EXCLUSIVE – Seventy-eight Super Bowls in 38 days. This was the scale of the task facing the Federal Bureau of Investigation going into the first World Cup final the United States has hosted in more than 30 years.
„That’s what we executed on,“ FBI Director Kash Patel told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview detailing the largest commitment of the agency’s resources ever devoted to securing a sporting event – the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
„We’re proud to report that, thank God, and thankfully to the men and women of the FBI and our partners, we had no significant criminal attacks during this World Cup,“ Patel said. „And just to put that in perspective, we had 6.5 million people attend the 78 matches in the U.S. across 11 venues.“
Patel said the planning and execution had to be „mathematically precise.“
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The tournament shattered previous attendance records and brought millions of international visitors to the country. The FBI dedicated nearly 5,000 personnel to the effort, including more than 4,000 from field offices, 800 from FBI headquarters and two legal attaché offices, along with support from 59 Homeland Security task forces.
The bureau also conducted approximately 300,000 background checks on players, coaches and other accredited personnel. All told, nearly 7 million fans from all over the world attended World Cup games in the United States, Canada and Mexico, all with no reported major security incidents. In fact, getting into the stadiums often took fans less than 15 minutes for games that averaged more than 65,000 in house.
A defining element of the FBI’s security operation was its aggressive response to the rapidly evolving drone threat. Recognizing that even a low-cost unmanned aircraft could be used to surveil players practicing at the dozens of team base camps around the country, track their movements to and from hotels, probe for security tactics at stadiums or fan zones, disrupt an event or deliver an explosive or chemical device, the bureau treated every unauthorized incursion as a potential threat.
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„If you’re in the space, we’re gonna take you down. And that’s why we took down over 700,“ Patel said. „Some of these folks were maybe borderline nuisances, while many of them were criminal in terms of violations of FAA airspace and also failing to register their drones… We’re not taking any chances.“
The FBI established its first dedicated counter-UAS (unmanned aircraft system) school at Redstone Arsenal in Alabama to train state and local officers in detecting, tracking and intercepting unauthorized drones. Those officers were then deployed on FBI-led ground-intercept teams at World Cup venues, creating a nationwide counter-drone capability built for a threat that barely existed when the U.S. last hosted the tournament in 1994.
„We, the FBI, specifically train for the worst of the worst,“ Patel said, pointing to the possibility of drones being used to deploy explosives or chemical agents. Former FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino was instrumental in developing the bureau’s counter-drone program.
That preparation was tested as the World Cup was getting underway, when investigators uncovered an alleged coordinated attack targeting UFC Freedom 250 at the White House.
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Federal prosecutors allege the suspects planned to use explosive-laden drones to trigger panic and force crowds to evacuate into areas where armed attackers could strike. Patel said the FBI launched a six-state operation, tracked the alleged threat through online communications and began a coordinated takedown „before the first punch was thrown,“ allowing the event to proceed without an attack.
Eight defendants have since been charged, although the allegations remain unproven and the defendants are presumed innocent.
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International cooperation was another critical component of the World Cup security operation.
„They’re working overseas in their home locations and giving us information back in real time on any single threat that’s coming in,“ Patel said.
The FBI hosted the International Police Cooperation Center in Northern Virginia, deploying more than 70 personnel to work alongside officers from U.S. host cities and security officials representing the nations sending teams to the tournament.
The FBI also assembled a Joint Operations Center with foreign police representatives from 46 of the 48 participating countries, allowing investigators to receive real-time threat intelligence from officials who understood their teams, fan bases and domestic security concerns. That information was supported by the FBI’s Intelligence Coordination Center, where more than 400 personnel processed an average of 26 incidents per day and produced nearly 100 intelligence reports for federal, state, local and private-sector partners, according to the FBI.
Patel credited the White House Task Force on the FIFA World Cup with bringing federal, state and local agencies together under a unified security strategy. Established by President Donald Trump and led by Andrew Giuliani’s team, the task force served as a central hub for interagency planning, intelligence sharing and the rapid deployment of law enforcement resources across the tournament’s 11 U.S. host cities.
„Like anything in government, to succeed, you need tremendous leadership,“ Patel said. „President Trump had the foresight to establish the White House Task Force… and what they were able to do was bring in the interagency, at least at the federal level, and then work with us at the state and local levels through our partnerships and put everybody under one roof.“
Patel said the coordinated structure allowed the FBI to quickly send bomb technicians, evidence teams, tactical operators, SWAT personnel and hostage-rescue capabilities wherever additional resources were needed.
„President Trump set the standard: Not only were we going to have the largest and safest sporting event in the history of the world, but we were going to make sure everyone had a great time. Those were the marching orders,“ Patel said.
He pointed to the social media videos showing international fans enjoying restaurants, pubs, sporting venues and other distinctly American experiences — even joking that Europeans fell in love with ranch dressing.
„These are small vignettes, but they quantify and qualify how awesome America did,“ Patel said. „And I don’t just mean government. I mean the private sector. They came in and partnered with us as well.“
Patel said those partnerships helped generate billions of dollars in revenue across the country while giving visitors a memorable experience.
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