How Trump created chaos in sports

Thus, the Brazilian is just one of the many athletes who began to live this situation. Last week, it was the Cuba volleyball team that had his visa rejected to participate in a tournament in Puerto Rico, an American territory. All twelve athletes, technicians and support team had their visas rejected.

The female tournament of one of the largest selections of the world sport was worth points for the elimination for the League of Nations. Wilfredo Robinson, coach of the team, issued a statement in which he admitted that exclusion will mean that Cuba will hardly qualify for the tournament that is one of the pillars of the international calendar.

Cuba was placed by Trump on a list of 19 countries that became targets of complete or partial banned banners. For Cuban chancellor Bruno Rodriguez, the measure “is racist and xenophobic”.

Officially, the US government insists that all athletes from nearly 200 countries will be able to enter the US for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles and the 2026 World Cup. The law stipulates exceptions for “any athlete or member of a sports team and immediate relatives traveling” to these two mega-ees that will take place in the US.

For now, in football, Iran is the only selection ranked for 2026 and is on the list of countries with the suspension of visas. FIFA has received guarantees from the White House that this will not be a problem.

But the fear in Havana and other governments is that with many of the qualification tournaments for Olympic modalities in American cities over the next two years, the impact will be deep.