The beautiful game stops at the border

Three dozen countries are banned from entering America in the year it is hosting the World Cup. Twenty-six of them are African. That’s half of Africa

- Michael Brian Lee

Reconnection: For immigrant and diaspora communities especially, the World Cup is deeper than sport. It is reunion, memory, identity, homesickness, pride and belonging compressed into 90 minutes. Photo: Flickr

(Flickr)

Last week, my fiancée was denied a visa to the US under the pretext that she is a “threat to the national interests of the United States of America”.

She is not a terrorist. She is not a fraudster, a larcenist or a human trafficker. She is not violent and carries no hate in her heart.

She is not planning to disappear into the shadows of America to become a nuisance lurking in the corners of the welfare system.

She is a telecoms consultant who has no interest in ever living in America but loves spending her money in outlet stores like the one in Deer Park, Long Island, near my mother’s house.

Her crime? She is from Zimbabwe.

In June 2025, President Donald Trump issued a presidential proclamation tied to Section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act banning citizens of 19 countries from entering the US.

Zimbabwe was not among them but in December he added 20 more countries, including hers.

To be clear about this: more than three dozen countries are banned from entering the US in the year it is hosting the World Cup.

Twenty-six of them are African. That’s half of Africa.

The decision was not based on who she is, what she has done or whether she poses any risk. It was based entirely on the passport she carries and the country in which she was born.

Suddenly, the World Cup became very, very personal. Who am I going to watch the games with now?

There are four World Cup teams from countries that are banned. Two of them are from Africa.