Donald Trump says World Cup can be ‘incentive’ for Russia to end war

Vladimir Putin's nation is currently banned from next year's tournament

Taking place across the United States, Canada and Mexico from June 11 to July 19, this footballing extravaganza will not feature Vladimir Putin's warring nation as things stand, what with its ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

During the Trump administration's World Cup taskforce meeting this week, the US president sat beside his FIFA counterpart Gianna Infantino to discuss Russia's potential involvement in next year's sporting event.

"They are banned for the time being from playing, but we hope that something happens and peace will happen so that Russia can be readmitted," said Infantino, per BBC.

Trump concurred: "That's possible. Hey, that could be a good incentive, right? We want to get them to stop. 5,000 young people a week are being killed - it's not even believable."

The 78-year-old went on to label Infantino "the boss" when it came to this hypothetical reinstatement, though, as he has "nothing to do" with those types of decisions.

Meanwhile, US vice-president JD Vance also attended the World Cup meeting and made sure to instruct foreign supporters to "go home" once the football schedule was done and dusted.

"I know we'll have visitors, probably from close to 100 countries," he said. "We want them to come. We want them to celebrate. We want them to watch the game. But when the time is up, they'll have to go home."

This comes after the World Tourism Forum Institute warned of how strict US immigration policies and international political tensions could "significantly" disrupt things over there, with the US set to host 78 of the 104 matches (including the final).