Foreign players competing in next year’s World Cup in the US will have their social media screened for posts supporting terrorism.

Around 1,000 players from 31 competing nations – the US will be exempt – require a P-1 visa to enter the country and take part in sports’ biggest global event.

The visa requires them to give details of any social media platform they have used in the past five years, including their username or handle, on a form known as a DS-160.

Similar requirements will be imposed on the media, including commentators, entering on what is known as an I-visa.

The screening of social media, which began in 2019, has been ramped up by the Trump administration, with officials looking for what they regard as anti-Semitism and pro-Palestinian postings.

This could raise problems for stars like Egypt’s Mohamed Salah, who in 2023 posted a video on X calling for the attacks on Gaza to stop.

“The people of Gaza need food, water and medical supplies urgently,” he said. “All lives are sacred and must be protected. The massacres need to stop. Families are being torn apart.”