FIFA’s Infantino plays down World Cup concerns despite violence in Mexico

Violence has broken out across Mexico, raising concerns only four months before its co-hosting of FIFA-world-cup-2026" class="entity-link entity-event" data-entity-id="1548" data-entity-type="event">FIFA World Cup 2026.Published On 25 Feb 2026FIFA President Gianni Infantino says he was “very reassured” about Mexico’s hosting of football’s 2026 World Cup, in his first comments on the violence triggered by the killing of a drug cartel leader.Mexico is one of the three host countries for the June 11-July 19 World Cup, along with the United States and Canada.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Football matches postponed in Mexico after drug kingpin El Mencho killedlist 2 of 4Africa must boycott the 2026 World Cuplist 3 of 4German football federation rules out World Cup boycott to oppose Trumplist 4 of 4German star latest to take aim at Trump ahead of FIFA World Cup in USend of listThe country as a whole, but particularly one of the tournament’s host cities, Guadalajara, was shaken by the violence that followed the killing of the leader of the powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).“Very reassured, everything’s good. It’s going to be spectacular,” Infantino said on Tuesday in the Colombian city of Barranquilla, two days after cartel members went on a rampage – including in Guadalajara – over the army’s killing of their leader Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera.At least 74 people were killed during the operation to capture him at a ranch near Guadalajara and subsequent clashes between the security forces and suspected cartel members.Only one was a civilian, according to the government, but residents and tourists alike were left scurrying for cover as cartel gunmen blocked roads in 20 of Mexico’s 32 states and torched vehicles and businesses.“It feels like we’re in a war zone,” Javier Perez, a 41-year-old engineer, told the AFP news agency on Tuesday in the car park of a grocery store replete with burned-out cars, in the Jalisco tourist resort of Puerto Vallarta.There will be ‘no risk’ to World Cup football fans in MexicoThe images of anarchy and violence were beamed around the world less than four months before the start of the World Cup, while FIFA on Monday refused to comment.