Suicide bombers planned to target Lionel Messi and other members of the Argentinian squad during the recently concluded FIFA World Cup held in Canada, Mexico and the US. They also planned to assassinate players of other countries, senior FIFA officials and referees as the US Police received multiple threatening emails. Reports suggest that inquiries regarding Cristiano Ronaldo had also been made with FIFA. Hence, the concerned authorities in Canada, Mexico and the US made top-level security arrangements for several teams.

In fact, some parts of a confidential US Police report have been leaked and the Spanish regional daily, Informacion.es, has published details from the leaked security dossier, revealing that Messi and the Argentinian national team faced multiple terror threats, bomb plots and stalking incidents during the 2026 FIFA World Cup. As there was a threat of terrorist attacks throughout the entire event, the workload of the security personnel increased manifold. Meanwhile, the US Police made maximum security arrangements for Argentina.

As per the leaked Police report, the plot for the biggest attack targeted the Argentina-Jordan match. An individual issued a threat, stating that he and two other persons, armed with homemade bombs and AR-15 rifles, would enter the stadium and blow up the entire Argentina team, including Messi. The person also threatened that the footballers and officials of both teams were on their hit list, although the primary target was Messi. He made a threatening call to Dallas Airport.

Alarm was also raised ahead of the Argentina-Egypt encounter as shortly before the match began, an individual wrote on social media: “I am going into the Atlanta Stadium and blowing Messi up with four bombs strapped to my body.” Just before the same match, an unidentified man called the Police to report that bombs had been placed in three trash cans inside the Atlanta Stadium, prompting officials to carry out an actual search for bombs inside the stadium.

French referee François Letexier, who officiated the Argentina-Egypt match, received over 6,000 threatening messages on WhatsApp. The Video Assistant Referee of that match, too, received a death threat. Some other referees and officials associated with the World Cup also received threatening emails or messages.

Security personnel did not take any threat lightly. Considering the gravity of the situation, the US Administration deployed the FBI, alongside the Police, and also sought assistance from the Centre for International Police Cooperation (IPCC). Interestingly, Messi was reportedly the primary focus of multiple severe security and terror threats mainly because of his popularity.

In the wake of the threats, the concerned authorities significantly stepped up the security for Cristiano Ronaldo, as well. A senior FIFA official stated that the Police arrested several people for threatening Ronaldo. According to him, FIFA alerted the FBI after one suspicious man kept pressing for details about the whereabouts of Ronaldo and officers then arrested him. A couple of days later, the Houston Police detained the same man at the hotel where the Portugal team were staying. In Toronto, the Police arrested another person in a similar incident as the man tried to get into a lift with Ronaldo, claiming that he just wanted to take a selfie with him.

Security for France’s Kylian Mbappé was also stepped up during the World Cup as unidentified individuals attempted to approach him on multiple occasions.

Meanwhile,

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das