The United States, by obstructing the entry of the national football teams of Iran and South Africa on political grounds, has called into question the legitimacy of its own hosting role.

On May 31, 2026, the charter flight carrying South Africa’s national football team never took off from Johannesburg. At least 20 players and staff members, despite months of effort, had failed to obtain transit visas to pass through U.S. territory. The country’s sports minister stated bluntly: “We are being dribbled past.” This is not the first time that the U.S. visa bureaucracy has plunged into crisis on the eve of a major international event. This time, however, the crisis has ensnared not a peripheral state, but one of the West’s traditional partners—a democratic government with a long record of close cooperation with Washington. In recent years, South Africa has adopted a position unpalatable to the United States by filing a case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Elsewhere, Iran’s national team has likewise been unable for weeks to secure entry visas to the United States and has been forced to relocate its training camp to Tijuana, Mexico. The visa crisis surrounding the 2026 World Cup is not merely an instance of administrative dysfunction; it is a sign of the erosion of the United States’ moral and political legitimacy to host global events—a trend that, particularly under the policies of the Trump administration, has increasingly exposed the gap between America’s declared values and its actual conduct.

The U.S. treatment of South Africa’s national team demonstrates that visas have become a tool for punishing “disobedient” countries. South Africa submitted its complaint against Israel to the ICJ in December 2023 and has since become a focal point of criticism from Washington.

The U.S. treatment of South Africa’s national team demonstrates that visas have become a tool for punishing “disobedient” countries. South Africa submitted its complaint against Israel to the ICJ in December 2023 and has since become a focal point of criticism from Washington.

The United States not only labeled the case “baseless,” but had previously sanctioned ICJ judges as well. Now, on the eve of the World Cup, the country’s national team faces an unprecedented obstacle. South Africa’s sports minister used the word “unfair,” though one could go further and describe it as “political retaliation through administrative instruments.” When the United States, as host of the world’s largest sporting event,........

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