Amnesty International has warned that the World Cup, spread across three North American countries, risks becoming a “stage for repression”. The human rights organisation published a report on Monday – “Humanity Must Win” – calling on Fifa and the host countries, the US, Canada and Mexico, to take urgent action to protect fans, players and other communities.
Fifa has promised a tournament where everyone “feels safe, included and free to exercise their rights”. But Amnesty said that pledge sat in “stark contrast” to conditions in all three host nations, especially the US, which hosts three-quarters of the 104 matches.
Amnesty described the US as facing a “human rights emergency” under the Donald Trump administration, marked by mass deportations, arbitrary arrests and what it called “paramilitary-style” Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations. The acting director of ICE said last month the agency would be “a key part of the overall security apparatus for the World Cup”. This comes despite anger at the killing of two American citizens by ICE agents in Minneapolis in January.
Amnesty said none of the published US host city plans addressed how fans or local communities would be protected from ICE operations. Fans from four countries – Côte d’Ivoire, Haiti, Iran and Senegal – face US travel bans and LGBTQ+ fan groups from England and across Europe have said they will not attend matches in the US, citing risks to transgender supporters in particular.
“This World Cup is very far from the ‘medium risk’ tournament that Fifa once judged it to be and urgent efforts are needed to bridge the growing gap between the tournament’s original promise and today’s reality,” the report said.
Fifa said this month the 48-team tournament – the biggest World Cup in history – would proceed as scheduled with all teams taking part, despite uncertainty over Iran’s presence due to the conflict in the Middle East.
The global football governing body, heavily criticised over its decision to award a newly created peace prize to president Trump in December, stands to earn $11bn (£8.3bn) from the tournament cycle.
“While Fifa generates record revenues from the 2026 World Cup, fans, communities, players, journalists and workers cannot be made to pay the price,” said Steve Cockburn, Amnesty’s head of economic and social justice. “It is these people – not governments, sponsors or Fifa – to whom football belongs, and their rights must be at the centre of the tournament.”
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