AI Brief
- A new report by the Sport & Rights Alliance criticises FIFA for prioritising record revenues over human rights at the 2026 World Cup.
- The report highlights inadequate FIFA oversight, resulting in discriminatory treatment and travel barriers for supporters, journalists, and participants, especially from countries with strict immigration restrictions.
- FIFA acknowledged the concerns, stating its own forthcoming report will address human rights and sustainability issues at the 2026 tournament in greater detail.
FIFA's leadership prioritized record revenues over human rights at the 2026 World Cup, failing to take ownership of its responsibilities while supporters and journalists faced discriminatory treatment, according to a new report published on Tuesday (October 13).
The Sport & Rights Alliance found FIFA relied heavily on host governments, local authorities and non-governmental stakeholders to address potential human rights violations, without providing sufficient guidelines, oversight, funding, or consequences for non-compliance.
Its report alleged the 48-nation tournament – hosted for the first time across three countries in Mexico, Canada and the United States – saw supporters, athletes, team staff, referees and journalists negatively impacted by visa restrictions, entry requirements, prolonged border questioning and travel restrictions based on nationality.
The report said these barriers particularly affected people from countries subject to heightened immigration restrictions, including some World Cup participants. It was also critical of FIFA awarding its first Peace Prize to US President Donald Trump.
Sport & Rights Alliance Executive Director Andrea Florence told Reuters on Monday (October 12), there had been "high expectations" from human rights groups that the 2026 World Cup would see meaningful change, given FIFA's 2017 Human Rights Policy and tournament-specific framework commitments.
"According to our reporting, the lack of ownership of those principles by FIFA's leadership led to a tournament that put profit over people," Florence said.
The report made a number of recommendations, and with FIFA's next presidential election approaching and the 2027 Women's World Cup in Brazil on the horizon, the Sport & Rights Alliance said there was an opportunity to push human rights higher up the agenda.
In a written response to the Sports & Rights Alliance seen by Reuters, FIFA General Secretary Mattias Grafstrom said he recognised the report "raises important concerns and identifies areas where further progress can be made".
He added that FIFA's own report on human rights and sustainability at the 2026 World Cup would provide a "comprehensive account" as well as "important additional evidence and context" and would be more "balanced".
A FIFA spokesperson added: "FIFA is proud of what was achieved through the FIFA World Cup 2026, which brought together people from across the globe in an unprecedented celebration of football and unity. FIFA will continue to build on this legacy, working openly and constructively with stakeholders to further strengthen its governance, human rights commitments and the positive impact of football around the world."
