A controversial law in Arizona could damage U.S. hopes of staging the soccer World Cup, The (Sydney) Daily Telegraph reported Thursday.
The Arizona law, approved in April, makes it a crime to be in Arizona without proper immigration papers.
It has triggered protests and sparked fears that certain racial groups will be targeted as a result.
Some members of the powerful Central and South American football confederations are reluctant to play in a state where their citizens could face harassment, or simply oppose the law as a matter of principle.
Latin American news sites began running hard on the story last month when the NBA basketball team The Phoenix Suns changed the name on their team jersey from “The Suns” to “Los Suns” for a play-off game as a nationally broadcast protest against the law.
“It rings up images of Nazi Germany,” Suns general manager Steve Kerr said of the law, which has also been condemned by the San Antonio Spurs, the NBA Players Association and the Major League Baseball Players Association.
Performers Shakira, Kanye West, Carlos Santana, Willie Nelson and Hall and Oates have all canceled scheduled concerts in Arizona.
The controversy over the law is the latest and biggest headache for the U.S.bid, which was damaged this month when Football Federation Australia chairman Frank Lowy made the tactically shrewd decision to pull Australia’s bid for the 2018 tournament and concentrate on 2022, leaving the U.S. still lobbying for 2018 and 2022.
The U.S. bid is also hampered by the fact that it already hosted the World Cup in 1994.
(This article is provided by NewsCore, which aggregates news from around News Corporation.)