FBI boss Kash Patel details how agency and partners secured record-shattering FIFA World Cup - Fox News

What the report says

Fox News Digital reported that FBI Director Kash Patel described the security effort for the 2026 FIFA World Cup as the largest sporting-event deployment in the bureau’s history, covering 78 matches over 38 days at 11 U.S. venues. In an interview at FBI headquarters in Washington on July 18, Patel said the tournament ended in the United States without significant criminal attacks, while attendance reached millions across the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

According to Fox, the FBI assigned nearly 5,000 personnel to the operation, including staff from field offices, headquarters and legal attaché offices, with additional support from 59 Homeland Security Task Forces. The bureau also carried out about 300,000 background checks for accredited people such as players, coaches and other personnel. Patel said planning had to be highly precise because the event brought large crowds, international visitors and multiple venues into a compressed schedule.

A major focus was unauthorized drones. Fox reported that the FBI and partners took down more than 700 drones during the tournament, treating incursions as potential threats ranging from nuisance violations to possible attempts at surveillance, disruption or attacks. The report said the bureau had created a counter-unmanned aircraft training program at Redstone Arsenal in Alabama for state and local officers deployed at World Cup sites.

Fox also reported that the FBI used international and interagency coordination, including an International Police Cooperation Center in Northern Virginia, a Joint Operations Center with representatives from most participating countries, and an Intelligence Coordination Center that handled incident reporting. Patel credited a White House task force established under President Donald Trump with helping coordinate federal, state and local security work.