Spain World Cup winner denied US entry for 2026 final despite President Trump plea

2010 World Cup winner Joan Capdevila won’t be able to attend the 2026 final after his visa application was rejected.

The former left-back had hoped to be in attendance for Sunday’s showpiece when Spain face 2022 winners Argentina at the New York New Jersey Stadium.

AFP

However, Capdevila’s been denied entry into the US, which has derailed his travel plans.

And the 48-year-old has called on US President Donald Trump to intervene and allow him to make the trip to the Big Apple this weekend.

“I NEED HELP @realDonaldTrump. They just told me that I can’t travel to the final with my kids because my ESTA has been denied,” Capdevila posted on social media.

“Can anyone help me with this? You have no idea how excited I was to be there with all my teammates from 2010 and this team to cheer them on.

“I can’t believe they won’t let me enter the U.S. … and that I’ll miss a moment like this with my kids, who love soccer so much… If anyone knows how to fix this, I’ll be eternally grateful.”

Capdevila told radio station COPE that the reason for the rejection was that he played a single game in Iran in 2016.

A team of La Liga legends, which included Claude Makelele, Gaizka Mendieta, Eric Abidal and Fernando Morientes, faced an all-stars team from Iran in Tehran 10 years ago.

Who is Joan Capdevila?

Capdevila came through the Espanyol ranks and made his senior debut in the 1998/99 season.

He went on to move to Atletico Madrid in 1999 and then to Deportivo La Coruna in 2000, where he spent seven years and made 179 league appearances.

It wasn’t until Capdevila moved to Villarreal in 2007 that he became a regular in the Spain setup.

Indeed, Capdevila established himself as La Roja’s starting left-back and played all seven matches alongside Carles Puyol, Gerard Pique and Sergio Ramos in defence as Spain won the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

And Spain are hoping to go the distance in North America for just the second time in their history on Sunday.

The Euro 2024 winners will look to deny Argentina a fourth World Cup triumph and in the process, end their hopes of becoming the third nation to defend their crown, after Italy and Brazil.

Spain booked their 2026 final spot with a 2-0 win over France on Tuesday, while Argentina came from behind to beat England 2-1 to set up a showdown with Luis de la Fuente’s men.

Manager De la Fuente believes key man Lamine Yamal is fit enough to start, despite minor concerns.

“Lamine is fine. All the players trained well today,” he said on Friday.

“We have our final training session tomorrow. These are the most critical moments, [we’re] hoping there’s no setback because there won’t be enough hours afterward to recover if some adverse situation were to happen — God willing it won’t — but everyone is fine.”

Pressed further, he added: “It’s what we colloquially call a ‘dead leg’ in the thigh area, and it’s very painful but he got through the match just fine.

“He sat out yesterday as a precaution, because he was feeling some slight discomfort. We’d rather he rests. Besides, it was a ‘rest day.’ That kind of rest is what we call ‘invisible training.’”

He finished: “He’s fine—there are no issues with him; he’s in perfect physical condition.”