Among the many reasons nearly two-thirds of the world population will stop everything to watch the Beautiful Game this summer are the unfolding stories of superstars becoming legends, underdog countries upsetting global powers, and rivalries dating back a century. At its purest, fans’ passion for a national team does not come at the expense of another and the universal human experiences of hope, joy, and loss bring the world closer together.
Although the 2026 Men’s World Cup will be jointly hosted by the US, Mexico, and Canada, it takes place amidst the backdrop of rising nationalism, escalating wars, and compounding inequality. As with past tournaments, this World Cup will be tainted by the crimes of the ruling class: profiteering ticket prices, the threat of excluding Iran as a consequence of imperialist war, and ICE and CBP threatening human rights violations against international visitors and immigrant workers in the US.
It’s little wonder the World Cup is perpetually plagued by controversy when it’s organized by FIFA, the notoriously corrupt world football federation dominated by the strongest capitalist nations. Even if you are not familiar with FIFA, you may have heard about its president, Gianni Infantino, and his “FIFA Peace Prize” awarded to Trump for his “tireless efforts to promote peace,” just weeks before he kidnapped a sitting head of state and mere months before he launched an unprovoked war on Iran. A huge Trump sycophant, Infantino recently announced FIFA will partner with Trump’s “Board of Peace” to build a stadium in the wreckage of Gaza.
Revenue from the World Cup is projected to exceed $11 billion, a figure that would see FIFA comfortably among the Fortune 500 companies. FIFA’s revenue comes from advertising and extortionate ticket prices, while maximizing profits by shunting expenses for public transit and security onto host cities. The xenophobic US government has also banned fans from Haiti, Iran, and the Ivory Coast from attending while nationals from dozens of other countries will be subjected to an invasive search of five years of social media history.
From its roots in the factory clubs of England and Scotland, football has always been intimately tied to the working class. As capitalist relations were exported around the world so too was passion for the game. But while the sport belongs to the people, it is in an existential struggle for its soul against rampant commodification and financialization. To reclaim the game, working people must relegate FIFA to history and develop a new international football federation from the grassroots up. At its core, a new federation and World Cup would need to champion accessibility: providing at-cost tickets and free public broadcasting; rejecting trans sport bans; and giving full equality to women’s soccer in wages and resources.
Photo: Protest during the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Agência Brasil, Wikimedia Commons.
