Bob Mackin
The day after President Donald Trump held it in the Oval Office, the FIFA World Cup Winner’s Trophy was put on display in Vancouver on Aug. 23.
More than a hundred people lined-up before 10 a.m. to be ushered into a tent on Jack Poole Plaza for a selfie.
The head of public relations for the Canadian office of the FIFA World Cup 26, Alicia Diotte, refused to allow theBreaker.news entry into the trophy display tent. A Vancouver Police officer grabbed this reporter’s arm and threatened ejection from the fenced-off area.
Other journalists were allowed inside to shoot photos and video of FIFA officials and tribal leaders of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh posing with the 51-year-old trophy.
Vancouver city hall’s FIFA 26 secretariat and the Vancouver Convention Centre invited the public on Aug. 21. There were substantially fewer people and the atmosphere less jovial than the Stanley Cup’s Aug. 19 appearance in West Vancouver.
FIFA VP walked away
After FIFA vice-president Victor Montagliani emerged from the tent, the West Vancouverite refused to answer questions from theBreaker.news.
The United States is the primary host nation of the June 11-July 19, 2026 tournament, with three-quarters of the matches at 11 stadiums, including the final in New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium. Three Mexican cities and two in Canada, Toronto and Vancouver, are the other co-hosts.
Costs to rise again this fall?
The B.C. NDP government’s latest budget estimate for seven matches at B.C. Place Stadium is $532 million to $624 million. The federal government has not announced the security budget nor has there been an announcement about the multiparty agreement.
Jill Nessel, a representative of the Ministry of Tourism, Art, Culture and Sport, confirmed that “the ministry expects to hear back from the federal government in the fall.”
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