World Cup fans told ‘don’t go to USA’ over mass shootings and ‘killing sprees’

Some nations hoping to participate in the 2026 FIFA World Cup have issued a stark warning to fans over travel to America due to lax gun laws and the threat of “killing sprees”.

A number of governments have raised concerns after the steep rise of mass shootings in the country, and have issued advice to would-be tourists, with one South American nation even going so far as to recommend that fans don’t travel.

Already this year, there have been a staggering 226 mass shootings in 138 days, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

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The US, Canada and Mexico are set to host the football World Cup in 2026, which will see 48 teams play 104 matches.

But before heading to the States to watch the most prized sports tournament on Earth, even co-host Canada has warned its citizens.

The official government website states: “The rate of firearm possession in the US is high. It’s legal in many states for US citizens to openly carry firearms in public.

“Incidences of mass shootings occur, resulting most often in casualties. Although tourists are rarely involved, there is a risk of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“Familiarize yourself on how to respond to an active shooter situation.”

Both the British and Japanese governments have issued similar warnings, while New Zealand told its people that the US harbours a number of “domestic-based extremists”.

The German government said “it is easy to obtain guns” in America which has led to “occasional killing sprees” while even crime-plagued Venezuela has warned football-mad fans to avoid travel due to the “proliferation of acts of violence and indiscriminate hate crimes”, in the nation.

“It’s fair to say that [gun violence] is one of the threats to the tourism industry that we can’t market our way out of”, Stephen Ekstrom, chief strategist of the Florida-based Tourism Academy told the LA Times.

“The biggest change in perspective comes from recognizing that it’s an economic issue as much as it is a public health, safety, politics issue.”

But what do fans think – are they still ready to travel to the States?

With hopes of qualifying for the tournament, one fan from Nigeria tweeted: “All these US shooting cases are red flags for [the] World Cup to be hosted there.”

A Brit added: “Now with the World Cup being in [the] USA, how will they guarantee fan safety for fans with mass murders or violence.”

Even an American supporter wrote: “Fifa should move the world cup [out of] the US because of these mass shootings.”

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