Ahead of and during the 2026 Winter Olympics, there were various concerns and controversies.
Corruption allegations and scandals On 21 May 2024, the Guardia di Finanza raided the offices of Fondazione Milano Cortina 2026 (Milano Cortina 2026 Foundation), Quibyt and Deloitte for alleged irregularities over the selection of certain sponsors, such as bid-rigging, irregular payments and uncertain validity over relationships between the Milano Cortina Foundation officials. The investigations mainly concern Deloitte and accusations of corruption and bid-rigging against three people. In July 2025, the Prosecutor's Office of Milan started an investigation into alleged corruption regarding the public works tender for the Milan Olympic Village. 74 individuals including Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala were investigated for offenses such as corruption, forgery or abuse of public office.
According to reports by the media, the accused are alleged to have boasted of their friendship with Fabrizio Piscitelli, former leader of the Irriducibili (a Lazio football club ultras group with mafia links), who was murdered in a Rome park in 2019. The reputation of the Irriducibili as a violent association football group helped them present themselves as influential figures within Rome's criminal underworld. The investigation, disclosed by the Venice prosecutor's office, details how two brothers from Rome, linked to the Irriducibili, were arrested after trying to illegally obtain contracts related to Olympic construction works.
In November 2025, the Milan Court of the preliminary investigations judge (GIP) referred a question of constitutional legitimacy to the Constitutional Court of Italy concerning Article 11 of Decree-Law No. 76 of 11 June 2024 (converted into Law No. 111 of 8 August 2024) — a provision widely described in Italian media as the "Save the Olympics" decree — which states that the activities of the Fondazione Milano Cortina 2026 are not governed by public-law rules and that the foundation is not a "body governed by public law". The Milan Court raised concerns about the constitutionality of a Meloni government decree intended to shield the Milano Cortina Foundation from investigations into alleged bid rigging and corruption scandals.
Infrastructural and venue issues Sliding sports venue During the bidding process, the Meloni government proposed to restore the Eugenio Monti Olympic Track in Cortina (used during the 1956 Winter Olympics), to be relaunched as a federal centre also for sledding and skeleton, despite opposition from the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The project has received criticism from environmental groups due to the planned felling of of larch forest. The minimum cost of restoring the closed track was initially estimated at €14 million, while in the official Milan-Cortina bid dossier the cost indicated was €100 million (similar budget needed to build the Cesana Pariol track used at the 2006 Winter Olympics). After initially forecasting an expenditure of €4050 million, the Veneto region allocated funding up to €85 million to build the new Olympic venues. An annual expenditure of €400,000 was also planned for the management of the facility, which would be open four months a year, to be settled through the establishment of €8 million fund.
Due to the rising cost of construction materials, the Veneto region president Luca Zaia said in February 2023 that the restoring cost for the Eugenio Monti track could be upwards of €120 million. Calling for tenders to award the work, no company came forward with a bid by the 31 July 2023 deadline; even after that, no company interested in carrying out the work could be found, both for economic reasons and because of the difficulty to complete all works before the start of the Olympics.14 January 2026 Due to critical issues, costs and prohibitive times for the total renovation of Cortina track, the mayor of Innsbruck, Austria, made a proposal for the use of the Igls Olympic Sliding Centre in Innsbruck.
On 16 October 2023 the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) announced that the track would not be rebuilt to host the 2026 Olympic Winter Games, and the sliding events could be held outside of Italy. The Italian government wanted the sliding events to remain in Italy, so they studied the possibility of revamping the Cesana Pariol track which hosted the events at the 2006 Winter Olympics, which has been dormant since 2011. Since then, several construction companies have submitted bids to study a potential reconstruction of the Eugenio Monti track. A bid was won to build a new sliding track (Cortina Sliding Centre) instead of rebuilding the Eugenio Monti track, which was demolished.
Despite concerns about the new track not being ready on time, it was confirmed in September 2024 that the new Eugenio Monti track was on schedule, and that homologation of the track was expected by March 2025. In March 2025, the venue's first tests were held. Mt. Van Hoevenberg Olympic Bobsled Run in Lake Placid, United States, was selected as the back-up venue for the sliding events. Venues in Austria (Olympic Sliding Centre Innsbruck in Igls) and Switzerland (St. Moritz-Celerina Olympic Bobrun in St. Moritz) were previously discussed as backup sites.
In late 2025, international training periods were planned by the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF) and the International Luge Federation (FIL) to allow all internationally competing athletes to learn and train on the new track well ahead of the Olympic Games. Luge athletes were expected to begin this training on 27 October 2025. Bobsleigh and skeleton athletes had a planned training block from 7 to 16 November, immediately followed by the opening week of the Bobsleigh World Cup, where further training and official racing took place from 17 to 23 November. The athletes were scheduled to return to Cortina in the days leading up to the 2026 Games for a final training period prior to the start of the Olympic competition.
Ice hockey venue delays The construction of the main ice hockey venue, Milano Santa Giulia Ice Hockey Arena, faced notable delays and concerns over rink size, leading to criticism from the NHL. IIHF president Luc Tardif announced in January 2026 that the stands would not be completed on time, leading to reduced capacity, but assured that the rink and player facilities would be ready. At the end of January, organisers admitted that the venue was not going to be fully complete in time, despite the IOC's Games executive director, Christophe Dubi, saying it was "absolutely certain" it would be ready.
South Tyrol venue naming dispute Ahead of the Games, organizations in South Tyrol led by the Südtiroler Schützenbund, criticized that all signage around the Antholz/Anterselva biathlon venue was in Italian (and English) only, even though signage in bilingual South Tyrol must, by law, be in German and Italian, and also that the venue was referred to in promotional materials only by its Italian name. As a consequence, some signage was exchanged, and during the Games, the venue was mostly identified as Antholz/Anterselva in video graphics and official Olympics texts.
Security concerns Trial for the death of a security guard During the night of 7–8January 2026, security guard Pietro Zantonini was found dead of exposure near the arena construction site in Cortina. The Belluno Public Prosecutor's Office has opened an investigation into the worker's working conditions by S.S.Security & Bodyguard.
No-fly zones and Russian cyberattacks In January 2026, U.S. and Italian security teams flagged the risk of "lone actor" drone attacks, similar to those seen in recent global conflicts. No-fly zones are strictly enforced over all venues. Researchers (such as Palo Alto Networks) have warned of state-sponsored "killware" and phishing campaigns targeting ticketing systems and athletes' personal data. In February 2026, days before the opening ceremonies, Italian officials were reported to have foiled Russian cyberattacks aimed at disrupting the Games.
Presence of ICE security officers On 17 January 2026, the second Trump administration confirmed that the U.S. Department of State's Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) would deploy United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)'s Homeland Security Investigations division "to vet and mitigate risks from transnational criminal organisations". ICE was similarly involved in past major sports events "as part of international partnerships related to human trafficking and drug trafficking". On 24 January 2026, as reported by the Italian newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano, ICE agents were already permanently stationed at the U.S. Embassy in Rome.
The news sparked protests from both Italian citizens and opposition parties to the right-wing-to-far-right coalition government led by Giorgia Meloni of Brothers of Italy (FdI), accusing it of favouring the introduction of foreign military forces that use "brutal methods" against the population. The event was also supported by the 2026 Minnesota general strike, which began following the killing of American citizens Renée Good and Alex Pretti by ICE agents, against the FdI's policy. During the protests, Italian public broadcaster RAI aired a video of ICE agents threatening to break the window of the vehicle its crew were using to report in Minneapolis.
Matteo Piantedosi, the Italian minister of the interior, regarding the alleged presence of the forces, did not confirm and minimised it, stating: "We are not aware of this at the moment, but foreign delegations choose who to turn to in order to ensure their own security. I don't see what the problem is. Security coordination remains the responsibility of the national authorities." The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) stated that "all security operations remain under Italian authority" and "ICE does not conduct immigration enforcement operations in foreign countries." A petition campaign to prevent agents from entering Italian territory was launched on Change.org. On the opening day of the Olympics, protests were held against the presence of ICE agents in Milan and against the Trump administration. Some spectators booed JD Vance during the opening ceremony. U.S. Olympic officials announced they would change the name of their assigned hospitality space from "Ice House" to the "Winter House" to avoid a reference to the agency.
Presence of Qatari security forces
Although Qatar has never sent athletes to any Winter Olympics, numerous Qatari police vehicles have been spotted in Milan. Officially, Qatari Lekhwiya, the elite security forces, and the Qatari police sent more than 100 officers (including about 20 women) to Italy to participate in security for the Olympics, along with more than 20 special vehicles (from Nissan Patrols to Stark Motor's mammoth Thunders) and 3 snowmobiles. Some Qatari security forces personnel also took part in a winter training course on snowy environments and skiing operations, conducted in collaboration with the Carabinieri in Selva di Val Gardena. According to a source at the Italian interior ministry, the Qatari security force was involved "mainly in a training" capacity. On 28 January, it was reported that a Qatari plane carrying 104 security personnel and heavy equipment slightly hit and damaged a lighting tower in Milan's Malpensa Airport while making a "wrong maneuver" during landing. Despite the incident, the welcome ceremony prepared for the passengers still took place. The Guardian reported that "any controversy over the Qatari involvement has so far been mute."
Opening ceremony commentary on RAI