WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump announced Friday the 2026 FIFA World Cup draw will take place Dec. 5 at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, combining the world’s biggest soccer tournament with the cultural institution he has sought to overhaul.
The decision to hold the opening event of the World Cup – during which FIFA will announce the groups and matchups for the opening stage of the quadrennial tournament – at the Kennedy Center combines two of Trump’s second-term priorities. He has taken a special interest in the Kennedy Center, long a cultural icon in the nation’s capital, and he’s also regularly touted bringing the World Cup to the US.
“It’s a tremendous honor to bring the global event and this incredible group of people and these unbelievable athletes – the best athletes in the world – to the cultural center of our nation’s capital,” Trump said.
Trump promised a safe atmosphere at the draw, discussing at length his federal takeover of Washington’s police department and issuing threats to Mayor Muriel Bowser and the city’s rat population.
Next year’s tournament is expanding for the first time to 48 teams and will span across the US, Mexico and Canada. Eleven American cities will be hosting games, including Santa Clara, but Washington is not one of them – an unusual situation for a host nation’s capital city during the World Cup. The draw will be the highlight of the tournament for an area of the country that is one of the hotbeds for soccer in the US.
“The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be the largest, most complex set of events in sports history. And the Kennedy Center will give it a phenomenal kickoff and will be involved,” Trump said.
The president has been working to put his own stamp on the Kennedy Center since he returned to the Oval Office in January. Trump seized control of the institution’s board earlier this year, telling reporters recently he would oversee a sweeping revamp of the center and its programming.
At Trump’s behest, congressional Republicans set aside $250 million in July for renovations to the center as part of their tax and spending bill. Those funds will go toward an expansive overhaul of the Kennedy Center, Trump said, arguing that it was badly in need of repairs when he took control of its operations.
The Kennedy Center has served as an early focal point of Trump’s attempts to assert his administration’s power over DC, drawing an institution that had traditionally remained above the fray of partisan politics directly into the center of the nation’s culture wars. Trump in February dismissed a slew of Democratic appointees from the center’s board of trustees, replacing them with aides and allies that included chief of staff Susie Wiles and second lady Usha Vance. Trump was subsequently elected chairman, with longtime confidant Ric Grenell installed as the Kennedy Center’s new president.
His takeover of the Kennedy Center prompted sharp criticism from Democrats and angered artists connected to the center — including the producer of the hit musical “Hamilton,” who cancelled an upcoming run of the show that was supposed to go through 2026. A series of other prominent artists, including director Shonda Rhimes and musician Ben Folds, resigned from their positions at the center.
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Since then, Trump has taken a hands-on approach to overhauling programming and drawing up plans for renovating the complex. Asked about his involvement in picking the center’s next honorees, Trump said he personally sifted through the candidates, rejecting some he felt were too “woke.”
Trump joked on Friday that people may start referring to the performance arts center as the “Trump Kennedy Center.”
“We’re working on it. It’s about a year project to make it. It’ll be great. It’ll be fantastic. You see the way this is looking, looks nice. I can’t tell you how much that gold costs – a lot of money. There’s nothing like gold, and there’s nothing like solid gold,” Trump said.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino accompanied Trump in the Oval Office for the announcement. Infantino and Trump have developed a close relationship as the tournament was awarded to the US, Mexico and Canada during Trump’s first term and is now being planned and held during his second term in office.
“This is this will be absolutely fantastic, the biggest event ever. And everything will start here in Washington, DC, at the Kennedy Center – or the Trump Kennedy Center,” Infantino said with a laugh.
Infantino presented Trump with the first ticket to next year’s final, noting that tickets for the tournament go on sale on September 10.
CNN’s Adam Cancryn contributed to this report.
