Miami-Dade Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz is calling South Florida’s 2026 FIFA World Cup tournament operations a public safety success, pointing to the absence of major security incidents and a strong law enforcement presence throughout the event.
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“This is it, this is what it all boils down to, we had absolutely zero public safety issues,” she said Monday.
The sheriff described the tournament as one of the largest security operations in county history.
Security planning for the tournament was influenced by lessons learned during the 2024 Copa América match at Hard Rock Stadium, when ticketless fans rushed security checkpoints and forced their way into the venue.
“A lot of people were very concerned that what happened at Copa would occur again at a much larger scale,” Cordero-Stutz said. “But I will tell you that we learned a lot of lessons because of Copa.”
According to statistics released by the sheriff’s office, approximately 424,000 fans attended the seven FIFA matches at Miami Stadium. Deputies made 36 arrests, mostly involving people trying to enter the venue illegally, and ejected 90 people from the stadium.
Authorities also confiscated 2,086 counterfeit items during the tournament.
One of the most notable enforcement efforts involved drones. The sheriff’s office worked alongside the FBI in responding to calls of drones flying illegally. According to the FBI, authorities seized 138 drones in the Miami area.
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Cordero-Stutz said federal airspace restrictions around tournament sites made drone enforcement a priority.
“For us, there was a federal restriction on the airspace, so that is what we were enforcing,” she said. “You are not allowed to be here with a drone, and we led the country in those seizures.”
Among those affected was content creator Dorian Carlisle, whose drone was confiscated after he flew it near FIFA Fan Fest activities at Bayfront Park in downtown Miami.
The Miami area recorded the highest number of drone seizures among the tournament’s 11 host cities. More than 700 drones were confiscated nationwide during FIFA events.
The sheriff said the results demonstrate the effectiveness of the county’s security strategy and the improvements implemented after the Copa América security breach, helping ensure a safe tournament for hundreds of thousands of fans.
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