The 2026 World Cup
Its Pleasures and Discontents
By Bill Silver and C. James
The world’s sports attention for the last month has been focused on the World Cup which is held once every four years. The dozens of matches, pitting national teams against each other, bring out the best in hospitality, cross-class national solidarity, and mass excitement, joy, and fun. It also brings out the worst in big country power politics, rabid nationalism and racism, corruption involving hundreds of millions in bribes, special payouts, and finally, of course, labor exploitation of the human condition. The stakes are high. As Dave Zirin recently wrote in The Nation magazine, “nothing unites the world’s eyeballs like the World Cup. This makes it political. Every nation, and every world leader, knows that victory will feel not only like a soccer triumph, but a national triumph. Winning the World Cup gooses the political commodity in the shortest supply, hope.’’
World Cup Background
The Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) is the governing body that has organized the tournament every four years since 1930. The World Cup is globally regarded as the most prestigious association football competition, as well as the most widely viewed and followed sporting and cultural event in the world. The viewership of the 2022 World Cup was estimated to be 5 billion, with about 1.5 billion people watching the Final. Estimates for 2026 are significantly higher.
FIFA: Corrupt, Secret, a Tool of Power Politics
According to Fifacolonialsm.com, FIFA operates like a mafia outfit, characterized by intimidation, loyalty demands, the suppression of dissent, and political treachery. Back in1938, the tournament in France took place following Nazi Germany’s annexation of Austria. FIFA allowed the Nazi regime to absorb the world class Austrian team into the German team and in doing so, promoted a “Greater Germany.”
The more recent tenures of past presidents Sepp Blattner and Gianni Infantino have been marked by allegations of rigging elections, silencing critics, and outright corruption. FIFA was an institution with over $2 billion in revenue and $2.9 billion in assets at the time. In May 2015 14 FIFA officials were arrested and indicted after an investigation by the FBI and the U.S. Justice Department. They were charged with wire fraud, racketeering, and money laundering—accused over a period of 24 years with receiving approximately $150 million in bribes. The arrests in Zurich, conducted on the eve of FIFA’s annual congress, caused shock to the sporting community. FIFA subsequently awarded the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, a nation with no tradition of soccer and few labor and human rights standards. Multiple investigations by authorities in the U.S., France, and Switzerland have revealed widespread evidence of bribery by Qatari officials in order to secure the votes needed to host the 2022 tournament.
The Good, Bad, Ugly, and the Bizarre of 2026 World Cup
The 2026 World Cup offered striking contrasts between the discriminatory and repressive policies of FIFA President Infantino (and close ally Donald Trump) versus the bonds of friendship, resistance, and solidarity that develop among fans in the U.S. and around the world. The 2026 games were held in 11 cities throughout the U.S., Mexico, and Canada. The number of countries qualifying increased this year from 32 to 48. For the first time ever, 10 African countries qualified, nine of whom advanced to the knockout round of 32.
Originally Trump and Steven Miller proposed having ICE agents stationed in every U.S. stadium and at all entrances. They had to back off after a major pushback from immigration rights groups, labor unions, and even FIFA executives who feared mass immigration crackdowns would create chaos among participating countries.
Still, the Trump administration enforced its current bans on new and non-immigrant visas for citizens of 39 countries, including four countries who qualified for the World Cup—Haiti, Iran, Ivory Coast, and Senegal. Despite a warning from Infantino that “any team, including the supporters and officials of that team, who qualify for a World Cup need to have access to the country,” the U.S. defied this warning with no repercussions from FIFA.
The U.S. prohibited visas for fan supporters of Haiti, Iran, Ivory Coast, and Senegal. It denied Iran the opportunity to practice in the U.S. forcing them to stay and practice in Mexico before traveling to and from the U.S. for their games. The U.S. government revoked the entire ticket allotment provided for the Iranian Federation. Immigration authorities detained Iraqi striker Aymen Hussein for seven hours upon his arrival at O’Hare International Airport. All Moroccan supporters who had purchased tickets in advance were denied U.S. visas without explanation.
Omar Abdulkadir Artan, named Africa’s best referee and the first Somali selected to referee a World Cup game, was denied entry by U.S. immigration authorities at the Miami airport with no explanation or appeal rights. He was prevented from officiating despite having been cleared, vetted, and given a visa by FIFA. This was an act unprecedented in modern football (soccer) history. FIFA raised no protest to this racist act, calling it “unfortunate,” but claiming FIFA was “not involved in host country immigration processes, including visa adjudications.” The president of the Union of European Football Association (UEFA) said he was “aghast” at Artan’s treatment and he boycotted the World Cup final to protest. Back home, Somalis gave Omar a hero’s welcome, filling up a stadium in Mogadishu to show their support for him.
Racism also has long roots among some World Cup players and fans. 2026 was no different. After a match won by France over Paraguay, a Paraguayan senator referred to French superstar Mbappé (born in France by parents from Cameroon and Algeria) as a “colonized Cameroonian, pretending hard to be French,” a “brute” who never learned to write, who “sucked on coconuts” and “the most intelligent things he heard were chimpanzees.”
Following this attack, worldwide support for Mbappe flooded in. The French Football Federation stated, “the racist remarks made by Paraguayan Senator Celeste Amarilla targeting Kylian Mbappé are utterly abhorrent and unacceptable.” These remarks are criminal and deserve condemnation. They must be prosecuted, here and elsewhere.” Mbappe himself said the senator was a “despicable woman” and that he “will never allow people like her the freedom to spread their hatred and racism across the world.”
Meanwhile Argentina, world champions in 2022, faced and lost to Spain in this year’s finals. Argentina is the most European of all countries in Latin America, with a white population of around 80%. Argentina’s fans and team members have been repeatedly associated with racist and violent incidents. At a game between Argentina and Egypt, multiple complaints were filed accusing some Argentina fans of throwing beer bottles at Egyptian and Cape Verdean fans. Other complaints at that game were in response to Argentina fans displaying Israeli flags to provoke the Egyptian fans, players, and the pro-Palestinian coach of the Egyptian team. FIFA also investigated multiple racial abuse in social media against popular Black American streamer IShowSpeed, among other things, stating that he should “go cry at the zoo.”
And of course, most fans (and non-fans) have heard of Trump’s unprecedented intervention to dispute a red flag against an American team member (more on this later).
Yet Humanity, Friendship, and Resistance Still Flourished All Over the World Cup
Examples of joy and solidarity abounded in the 2026 World Cup.
Scottish Tartan Army fans drained all the beer from Boston bars and joined with baseball fans at Fenway Park in Boston to serenade the stadium with the Scottish ballad “Bonnie, Bonnie banks of Loch Loman.” When the Scots’ coach buses failed to arrive to take them to other match sites, the Scots used school buses instead. With the money they saved using school buses, the Scots donated $40,000 to disadvantaged child charities, and $15,000 to a Rhode Island hospital and a music school that taught Americans how to play bagpipes.
The Aussies, meanwhile, did their share of beer chugging and hundreds marched through west coast cities chanting “Aussies on a bender—Trump’s a sex offender!
Haiti made its first appearance in the World Cup since 1974, and its fans rallied in Mattapan Square chanting Grenadye Alaso!—a Haitian symbol of unity, shared struggle, and anticipated victory. This was a pointed message of solidarity with all the Haitian communities here in the U.S. threatened with recent Trump termination of their Temporary Protected Status.
Bosnian fans whose parents fled ethnic cleansing by the Serbs rallied in celebration at the World Cup that their country “had not been erased.”
Several acts of kindness occurred, such as Japanese and Brazilian supporters staying after games to help clean stadiums, and fans helping the small number of Senegalese to raise their national flags at the Senegal matches.
The “Viking Row” was a massive delight throughout the games. Norwegian fans brought their booming “Viking Rowing” celebrations to public spaces in every possible site, including escalators in Boston and Times Square.
Despite Trump’s treatment of the Iranian team, the Iranian national team left heartfelt thank-you notes for fans on the west coast, advocating for peace, respect, and friendship among nations. “Perhaps a team can advance from a group, but only through fairness and honour can one stand tall before history. Thank you Seattle for your hospitality, and thank you to all Iranians…who gave their hearts, their voices, and their whole being for Iran.”
Lumumba Vea, whose real name is Michel Nkuka Mboladinga, is well known from this year’s and previous World Cups. Vea stands without moving in a statuesque pose throughout all the games played by his homeland of the Democratic Republic of Congo. His arm is raised with a finger pointed like a pistol to his head. This action is an homage to Patrice Lumumba, the country’s first prime minister who led the fight to win the country’s independence from Belgium in 1960, and who was also an early founder of Pan-Africanism unity. Lumumba was overthrown by a CIA-backed military coup in 1960 and ultimately executed.
Soccer fans in Seattle and elsewhere finally won the right to wave rainbow flags at World Cup games, including at a game between Iran and Egypt. This came on the heels of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar where FIFA security confiscated rainbow flags, detained a journalist for wearing a rainbow t-shirt, and threatened team captains for wearing “One Love” armbands—all to avoid “offending” Qatar (and other repressive countries). At the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup, FIFA reneged on its own anti-discrimination campaign until mass outrage around the world forced them to relent. Fans were allowed to wave a sea of rainbow flags at the Iran Egypt match in Seattle—an action aimed at two of the major countries that criminalize LGBT people and supporters.
Final Notes, the Final Match, and Donald Trump
As most fans are aware by now, President Trump intervened with FIFA president Infantino to help overturn a one game suspension of American player Folarin Balogun. This was done prior to a game between the U.S. and Belgium. Such a reversal of a red flag suspension was unprecedented in a World Cup game. Complaints rolled in from not just the Belgium team, but from federations around the world. Balogun himself said, “My initial reaction was I was happy to be back on the team. But when I kind of started to reflect, I knew it was going to cause a lot of controversy,” Balogun said. “And I could almost see within my teammates, a bit of nerves because it was something that’s so unique.”
Prior to the start of the final game, the Vice President of U.S. Soccer, Nathan Goldberg Crenier, blasted Trump claiming that he left a “moral stain” on the tournament and then called out Infantino for “tarnishing the entire sport to win Trump’s favor” and for “blessing Trump’s wars in the name of soccer.” Crenier noted that Infantino created the FIFA Peace Prize which he promptly awarded to Trump.
Trump’s insistence in being a main feature of the final’s award ceremony became a totally pathetic display of Trump’s ultra-toxic narcissism. Fans and players let Trump know it. Trump was loudly booed by fans at the final when he was shown on the jumbotron and again when he walked in for the presentations. Several Spanish players, including the team’s star forward, Lamine Yamal, walked by Trump and refused to shake his offered hand. Yamal flashed the peace sign in Trump’s face. Spain forward Borja Iglesias joked that he would only shake Donald Trump’s hand to avoid going to prison. Even Infantino attempted to pull Trump away during the closing ceremonies so he wouldn’t appear in a photo shoot with the victorious Spanish team. As it was, several official photos had to crop Trump’s face out of the picture.
Trump’s intervention with Infantino to reverse the suspension of U.S. player Folarin Balogun also had an ironic twist. It was brought to light that Balogun’s Nigerian mother only gave birth to her son in the U.S. because she was not allowed by the airlines to fly home due to being seven months pregnant. If birthright citizenship had not existed, as Trump has wished, Balogun could never have played at all for the U.S.!
In Closing
Nothing—not even Trump and Infantino—could take away from such a wonderful World Cup. The World Champion Spain team gave a masterful effort in its 1-0 victory against Argentina and their superstar, Lionel Messi. True soccer fans could only breathe a sigh of relief that, given Spain’s total domination of the game, it was not decided by penalty kicks. Much of the world was later inspired to see Spanish star Yamal waving a Palestinian flag during Spain’s massive victory parade.
It is a great time to remember back to 1995—one year after the fall of apartheid—when Nelson Mandela walked onto a rugby pitch in a Springbok jersey—the symbol, to Black South Africans of decades of apartheid oppression—to give the rugby World Cup trophy to the team’s white captain. According to the Nelson Mandela foundation, it was a statement meant to show that one’s existence is not determined by “where you were born” or “what you look like” and that no one should ever be a presumptive enemy based on these characteristics.” How appropriate!
Bill Silver is a community activist who recently retired after 40 years as a union member and staff organizer. Bill traces his early socialist beginnings to a high school walkout following the killings at Kent and Jackson State. He is an avid athlete and sports fan who has currently found a new home on the pickleball courts.
C. James was a Division 1 basketball player in early 70s till his involvement in the new communist movement. He recently retired from teaching at the University of Illinois.
Excellent piece which deserves wide distribution!