President Trump: 2026 World Cup an “incentive” for Russia to end the Ukraine secretary

President Donald Trump said that the opportunity to take part in the World Cup 2026 of football could be an “incentive” for Russia to end the war with Ukraine.

The Russian national teams have been banned by the country since 2022, days after the country's invasion into Ukraine, both from FIFA and the UEFA from international competitions.

The qualification for the 2026 World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico began in 2023 with 45 places in addition to the guest nations.

Together with the FIFA President Gianni Infantino, Trump spoke at the first meeting of the World Cup -Taskforce of his government and did not know that Russia would be excluded according to the current rules, but suggested that the end of the war could pave the way for its re -hiring.

“I didn't know that, is that right?” Said Trump. “Do you want to explain that?”

“That's right,” replied Infantino. “You are forbidden by playing for the time being, but we hope that something will happen and peace will happen so that Russia can be resumed.”

Trump replied: “This is possible. Hey, could be a good incentive, right?

“We want you to stop. We want you to stop. 5,000 people per week are killed – it is not even credible. We will stop this war.”

The European qualification for the tournament next summer officially started with the Nations League in March. A total of 16 UEFA nations will qualify for the World Cup.

Russia has not played a competitive company since a qualification of 2022 World Cup for Croatia in November 2021.

Since then they have played 16 friendly games and won 11 of them.

In a UEFA congress in April, Infantino said that he wanted to “bring Russia back in the football landscape because this would mean that everything was solved”.

UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin added: “When the war stops, [Russia] will be resumed. “