Assister au Mondial-2026, un rêve suspendu au visa pour de nombreux supporters
They are Ivorian, Senegalese or Haitian, and their dream of attending their national team's World Cup matches is contingent on obtaining a visa to travel to the United States, a country now much less willing to welcome certain nationalities.
"Difficulties are in sight if we trust what we hear and read in the press and we are worried," Djibril Guèye, president of Allez Casa, a supporters' committee of the Senegal team that will face France on June 16 in East Rutherford (New Jersey), told AFP.
The US government, which has adopted a restrictive immigration policy, froze immigrant visa procedures in January for 75 countries, including four qualifying nations: Haiti, Ivory Coast, Senegal and Iran.
As for the participation of the Iranian team itself, which was supposed to play its three first-round matches on the west coast, it has been called into question since the US and Israeli military operation was launched against the country.
For the World Cup, the White House has planned exceptions - players and technical staff of the national teams as well as members of their families - and affirms that this freeze does not affect tourist visas.
The US government has also implemented a "FIFA pass" allowing ticket holders to more quickly obtain an appointment at the US embassy. But "your ticket is not a visa," warned Foreign Minister Marco Rubio.
Tickets, bank account
To have the right to set foot on American soil, one must therefore "have plane ticket reservations, a bank account of several million CFA francs", indicates Djibril Guèye, emphasizing that the majority of supporters "do not have these means", even if their travel is organized by the government which pays for "transportation, entry tickets, accommodation".
Ivory Coast also organizes travel for its supporters through the National Committee of Elephants Supporters (CNSE), a state-affiliated body that centralizes requests, sends visa applications to the embassy and helps with travel logistics.
According to the president of the CNSE, Julien Adonis Kouadio, interviewed by AFP, "500 supporters" should participate in this operation and, with those already present on site, between 1,500 and 2,000 fans are expected for each match.
Supporters are also concerned about the presence of immigration police (ICE) around stadiums, who are responsible for arresting - sometimes violently - illegal immigrants.
"It's not the arrival at customs that worries us the most, because we are well-organized," adds Mr. Kouadio. "But with this system, we risk not feeling like we're celebrating football. We mustn't put too many constraints in place that prevent people from letting loose."
Police raids
However, they will be able to get excited in Canada, where Ivory Coast and Senegal will play a group match.
The Haitian Grenadiers, who have qualified for the World Cup finals for the first time since 1974, will play their group matches in the United States. They will need the support of the diaspora, as Washington has suspended the issuance of visas, even tourist visas, from Haiti in June 2025.
Alphonse Occil, a 34-year-old Haitian engineer living in New York, won a ticket in a lottery for the Brazil-Haiti match on June 19 in Philadelphia. "I took my chance and it smiled on me," he told AFP.
But because of the ICE raids, he's afraid to go to the stadium, even though he's in the country legally and paid $500 for his ticket. "I hope the authorities will take measures to avoid disrupting the atmosphere. The tension should ease," he hopes.
In 2024, the Haitian community in the United States numbered approximately 850,000 people according to official statistics. It is primarily located in Florida, in the Miami neighborhood nicknamed "Little Haiti", in New York, as well as in the Northeast (Delaware, Maryland) and in the North (Ohio).
And some of them live under a sword of Damocles, as the Trump administration seeks to end a temporary protection status that prevents their deportation to their country, one of the poorest in the world and ravaged by political instability, economic crisis and gang violence.
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