FIFA is a Collaborator in War Crimes and Genocide: Demand FIFA Move the Games from the U.S.
With the continued support of Israel’s barbaric genocide in Gaza and illegal settlement expansion on the West Bank, extrajudicial murder off the coast of Venezuela and illegal blockade, and terror and violence directed at undocumented workers in the U.S., U.S. officials have made the choice to operate beyond the bounds of law and elementary morality.
The response from the international community must be condemnation and defense of the ideas of individual and collective human rights, national sovereignty and peace, not complicity and impunity through allowing the U.S. to host the community of nations during the World Cup and Olympics.
The continued actualization of the U.S. perspective that “might, and white, makes right” underpins its violent and illegal actions across the globe. Within the U.S. is no different. In fact, ongoing evidence makes it clear that escalating U.S. repression is most dangerous for Black, Brown, and Indigenous people, representing a majority of World Cup fans in the U.S. and also a majority of visitors and teams from global South nations who are planning to engage with the World Cup 2026. All of the state actions up to this point (dehumanizing narratives and actions, increased surveillance, ongoing tests of impunity at home and abroad) pave the way to enact violence upon whoever the state deems human, justified by the state’s mass propaganda. From the returning rhetoric by the Trump administration regarding Somalians as “garbage people” to painting Haiti as a “shithole country,” it is clear that this brazenly racist attitude of U.S. officials will extend to those attending and even participating in the World Cup Games, with Haiti and African nation teams like Ghana, Morocco, Senegal, and Algeria having qualified to compete.
Between January 20th and October 15th alone, an estimated 220,000 arrests were made by ICE . This violence being unleashed against migrants domestically is the same violence being perpetuated by the aptly re-branded Department of War against Venezuela, all in the name of U.S. hegemony.
As if the level of risk for fans and players wasn’t enough, this danger, together with the ongoing support and complicity for genocide should – legally, ethically, and morally – disqualify the U.S. from hosting the games. According to their own organizational values, FIFA stands for human rights, with Article 3 of the FIFA statutes articulating, “FIFA is committed to respecting all internationally recognised human rights and shall strive to promote the protection of these rights.” The unending U.S.-driven genocide in Gaza is not only blantantly ignoring any version of human rights, but is explicitly working to eliminate and displace Palestinians. When the U.S. is then allowed to participate in or host the Games, FIFA is normalizing genocide in this act by broadcasting approval of these brutal actions, making FIFA complicit with genocide, itself, and the ongoing illegalities committed by the U.S. and Israel.
FIFA is nothing more than a legitimizer for U.S. domination, extraction, and exploitation. The beautiful game should belong to the people and, as such, organizations and people of conscience must take a stand against FIFA’s complicity, one that is for People(s)-Centered Human Rights, and demand that FIFA move the games out of the U.S.
