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Written by: Mark Freedman
When the World Cup starts next week, it will be potentially the largest multinational security coordination challenge on American soil in a generation. Three countries, 16 cities, 48 teams. In terms of scale, the 2026 FIFA World Cup will be equivalent to “having 78 Super Bowls over 40 days,” according to Andrew Giuliani, executive director of the White House Task Force for the World Cup. The event’s continuous nature means there is no downtime; the operational tempo must keep pace with the evolving threat landscape.
With an event at this scale, there is no single government, organization, or authority ultimately responsible for security. This World Cup is, by its nature, a shared security challenge across multiple countries and across the public and private sectors. As corporate security and intelligence teams move from planning into operations over the next week, it will be critical to consistently apply a strategic lens to inform tactical intelligence analysis.
Diverse Geographic Threat Environments
FIFA plans to use 16 different stadiums spread across New York/New Jersey, Los Angeles, Dallas, San Francisco, Miami, Seattle, Boston, Kansas City, Atlanta, Houston, Philadelphia, Vancouver, Toronto, Guadalajara, Mexico City, and Monterrey, and the breadth of that list is itself the point. No two of these environments carry the same threat profile, and no single security posture can travel across all of them. The risk environment in the United States, for example, will be driven by threats of terrorism, both foreign and domestic, and civil unrest. Canada faces similar threats, including recent plots stemming from geopolitical instability in the Middle East. Mexico will face threats from cartels. Estadio Akron is in the heart of Jalisco, a Mexican state that is effectively controlled by Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization. An April 2026 Liferaft survey revealed that nearly one in five Americans are deeply concerned about terrorism or large-scale security threats at the World Cup.
Threats Beyond The Stadium
These threats pose challenges beyond stadium walls. Millions of fans will pack transit hubs, city streets, fan zones, watch parties, and hotels and other lodging, all of which face unique but interlocking security risks. In this type of environment, one area of focus must be how a threat can be launched from one location and impact a different one. In particular, businesses that operate in proximity to World Cup venues must be cognizant of how their premises may be exploited by threat actors seeking to disrupt the games.
This scenario calls to mind the 2017 Mandalay Bay mass shooting in Las Vegas (the deadliest in American history) in which the attacker killed 58 and injured several hundred by firing on a large crowd from an elevated hotel window. That attack resulted in a class action lawsuit against MGM Resorts International and an $800 million settlement. It highlights the risks to event venues and large crowds from nearby locations and illustrates the need for broad situational awareness and cross-venue coordination.
Delays in government funding have also created additional risks and vulnerabilities. FEMA’s $625 million grant – intended to fund security operations, background checks, operational exercises, and cybersecurity defenses for U.S. World Cup venues, faced major delays and left host cities in limbo for months, even as the threat picture worsened. The grant was eventually released, but with the opening match weeks away, the window for meaningful procurement had already largely closed. This delay needs to be built into security planning assumptions as we head into the games.
Key Implications As The World Cup Gets Underway
Next week, we will see one of the largest security efforts across North America move into full swing. Corporate security and intelligence teams with close exposure to the games and their surrounding environments have been in planning mode for months and will move into operations. As they do so, it will be important to keep the strategic factors discussed above front-of-mind. Security and intelligence leaders should ask themselves:
The scale of the 2026 World Cup, paired with heightened political tensions and increased global conflict, presents a clear set of security challenges. Planning time has elapsed, and now organizations must move into operations. By keeping strategic context front-of-mind, security leaders and analysts can help sort signals from the noise during what is sure to be a busy summer.
Mark Freedman
Principal & CEO, Rebel Global Security
Mark Freedman is Principal and CEO of Rebel Global Security and was formerly the Chief of Staff for the U.S. Department of State’s Counterterrorism Bureau. This post is part of Liferaft and Rebel’s collaborative work to analyze the evolving global threat environment and provide critical insights to private sector and government clients.