Coalition calls for upcoming FIFA presidential election to centre human rights
The 2026 Men’s World Cup exposed a failure of FIFA’s leadership to implement its own human rights policies, with the pursuit of record revenues prioritised over fairness and equality, the Sport & Rights Alliance and Football Supporters Europe said in a joint report released today. The 50-page report, “Profit Over People: The 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup,” documents a tournament marked by a climate of fear given the backdrop of mass immigration detentions and deportations; discriminatory visa bans; cost and accessibility barriers for fans, players and journalists; unclear safeguarding and eligibility standards; and lack of effective access to remedy.
“The 2026 World Cup exposed how the priorities and direction set by FIFA’s leadership put profit over people,” said Andrea Florence, Executive Director of the Sport & Rights Alliance. “For everyone touched by the tournament, access and participation were limited by economic status, nationality, immigration status, disability, gender identity and sexual orientation or political circumstance. Not only did FIFA fail to use its leverage to uphold human rights obligations, it chose to lift up a government that is actively violating human rights by awarding an unvetted ‘FIFA Peace Prize’ to U.S. President Donald Trump.”
As a 48-nation, 104-match tournament hosted for the first time in three countries – Canada, Mexico, and the United States – the 2026 Men’s World Cup was the biggest mega sporting event in history, and one that, as FIFA promised would be a tournament where everyone “feels safe, included and free to exercise their rights.” The tournament was the first World Cup to be hosted under FIFA’s recognition and adoption of international business and human rights obligations, through its 2017 Human Rights Policy, integration of human rights criteria in the bidding process, and a dedicated “FWC26 Human Rights Framework” for 16 local host committees. Yet due to rising concerns about potential human rights abuses at the tournament, over 65,000 people joined Amnesty International’s call for FIFA and host nations to address risks and guarantee a World Cup for everyone.
ICE raids surged, protests were blocked and discriminatory visa policies kept many fans from enjoying what was billed as ‘the most inclusive World Cup ever’.
Frank Conde Tangberg, Policy Advisor at Amnesty International
“The unity and joy we saw on the pitch and in the stands were a world away from the fear and division beyond the stadiums. ICE raids surged, protests were blocked and discriminatory visa policies kept many fans from enjoying what was billed as ‘the most inclusive World Cup ever’,” said Frank Conde Tangberg, Policy Advisor at Amnesty International. “Many of these violations stemmed from repressive and abusive government policies, but FIFA failed to use its leverage to protect fans and local communities. It spent its political capital on maximising revenue rather than standing up for human rights.”
The report details how excessive ticket pricing, coupled with expensive visa requirements and a lack of affordable inter-city transport, as well as U.S. travel restrictions on over 39 nations, disproportionately excluded fans with disabilities, with limited incomes and/or from the Global South. Participating teams and officials faced severe disruptions: members of the Iranian national team had U.S. visas delayed or denied, and for two U.S. matches the team had to enter and depart the country on the same day – while Somali referee Omar Artan, despite having a valid visa, was denied entry at Miami International Airport following an 11-hour interrogation. These and other barriers unfolded alongside aggressive U.S. immigration enforcement, with, as Human Rights Watch documented, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) conducting over 167,000 arrests in and around 11 World Cup host cities leading up to the tournament. Although reporting of ICE detentions inside World Cup venues was limited, enforcement surged during the tournament, including over five days in late June when approximately 10,000 people were arrested.
“Supporters were treated as objects to be exploited rather than the heart of the game,” said Ronan Evain, Executive Director of Football Supporters Europe. “When ticket prices are at the highest in World Cup history, legal accessibility requirements for fans with disabilities are ignored, and dedicated supporters face discriminatory visa rejections or militarized border enforcement, you no longer have a global celebration – just an exclusive, sanitized spectacle meant only for the elite.”
The report also documents other human rights abuses in Mexico, where police confronted planned protests with tear gas and detained two journalists. In Canada, preparations were marked by street sweeps displacing unhoused residents in host cities – and immigration authorities rejected more World Cup visa applications, which came mostly from Global South applicants, than they approved. Within FIFA’s direct control, questions remain about whether FIFA failed to enforce its own in-competition policy explicitly requiring athletes to declare they have never been investigated for a sexual or other violent offence, given that at least eight players facing pending sexual assault cases or allegations competed in the 2026 World Cup. Independent journalism was also severely constrained by FIFA’s opaque media accreditation processes, U.S. visa barriers, and a lack of regular press conferences with top leadership.
“In recent years, the U.S. – the country hosting the majority of World Cup matches – fell from 45th to 64th in our Press Freedom Index, and journalists have faced violence, detention, and deportation,” said Clayton Weimers, Executive Director of Reporters Without Borders (RSF) USA. “Yet FIFA’s lack of clarity on media accreditation, coordination with visa processes, and blasé attitude toward media briefings underscored FIFA’s failures to uphold human rights. On top of this, FIFA’s continued lack of advertising for its grievance mechanism for journalists, players, fans, workers and community members means we don’t know the true extent of the harm.”
FIFA is in clear need of systemic governance reform that embeds human rights and good governance into leadership and decision-making structures, provides an independent system of checks and balances, and ensures meaningful accountability when its commitments are not met.
“The lesson of the 2026 World Cup is not that international sporting bodies can guarantee the conduct of sovereign governments, but that human rights risks must shape how tournaments are awarded, planned, contracted, monitored, and delivered – and that top leadership at FIFA and other sport governing bodies must be prepared to act, especially when circumstances change,” said Florence.
As detailed in the report, the Sport & Rights Alliance and Football Supporters Europe call on FIFA, and all candidates in the 2027 presidential election, to:
- Make human rights requirements binding, and set enforceable conditions in host agreements for all future Men’s and Women’s World Cups, backed by independent monitoring and clear consequences for non-compliance;
- Establish a transparent, survivor-centered eligibility framework for athletes and officials facing serious misconduct or sexual violence allegations, replacing case-by-case discretion;
- Ensure meaningful access without discrimination to future tournaments for fans, athletes, journalists, and other accredited participants, and ensure the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and press freedom are guaranteed in the context of FIFA tournaments;
- Guarantee equal ticket access and free companion seating for supporters with disabilities, while preventing predatory ticket pricing; and
- Make FIFA’s grievance and remedy mechanisms visible and accessible, re-establish a permanent and independent Human Rights Advisory Board, comprehensively reform the FIFA Ethics Committee, and create a permanent Remedy Fund for individuals and communities harmed by past and future tournament operations.
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