Corruption, racism and political coercion are just some of the controversies that have mired this year’s football World Cup, writes Jamal Elaheebocus

The 2026 Fifa World Cup was promised to be “the greatest event that humanity has ever seen”, in the words of Fifa president Gianni Infantino. This comes from a man who has cozied up to Donald Trump in the past 18 months and who is set to make millions in bonuses from the tournament. The reality is different; this World Cup, spread across Mexico, Canada and the US, has been one of profiteering, overshadowed by the influence of a warmongering, viciously racist administration.

The start of the tournament was beset with controversies as the Trump administration’s authoritarian border policies extended to players and officials arriving for the World Cup. The most prominent case was that of Somali referee Omar Artan, who was refused entry.

However, the Senegal, Uzbekistan and Iraq teams were also subjected to long, intensive searches. The Senegalese team weren’t even allowed off the airport tarmac before they were stopped and screened, while Iraq striker Aymen Hussein was held and questioned for nearly 7 hours and the head of the Palestinian Football Association was also denied entry.

Fans from across the world, but particularly the Middle East and African countries, have had visas rejected or have been denied entry to the US. Jordanian fans were subject to 40% rejection rates for visas to the US in the build-up to the tournament.

As the tournament has progressed, the next major scandal has been the treatment of the Iranian team. Speaking after they were eliminated during the group stage, the Iran coach said that the team were treated “very unfairly” and called on Infantino to “stand up to the US”. Amidst the backdrop of Trump’s war on Iran, the Iranian team were denied permission to stay in their planned training camp in Tucson, Arizona and were forced to station themselves in Mexico. 11 senior officials, including managerial staff and technical advisers, were denied entry. The team was chased out of Los Angeles after both of their first two matches, having to arrive and leave the US on the same day.

Anyone who believed that this World Cup, or any for that matter, was an apolitical affair had a rude awakening in the knockout stages. Trump sparked outrage when he, by his own admission, intervened personally to get US striker Folarin Balogun’s red card overturned for their last-16 match against Belgium, with Infantino accused of breaching rules on political neutrality.

Ricardo Fort, a sponsorship consultant who negotiated commercial deals with Fifa on behalf of Visa and Coca-Cola said: “If you ignore the noise and the politics then the work done by Fifa’s commercial team is very impressive.”

There’s truth in this; it’s been a lucrative World Cup for Fifa. The governing body expects to make $10.9 billion in profits from the tournament alone, with earnings of $13 billion across the 4-year world cup cycle up till this tournament. That is a 73% increase in yield from the 2022 tournament in Qatar and dwarfs the profit from the 2024 Olympics, which made €4.4 billion.

The vast majority of this profit comes from ticket sales, the revenue from which has increased to $3 billion. This is partly due to the expansion of the tournament to 48 teams but also because of the extortionate ticket prices. With dynamic pricing in place at venues throughout, fans are being bled dry to watch their teams compete.

Much of this revenue will go to Fifa’s 211 member federations and 6 continental federations, which will ensure the current regime at Fifa stays in place. Infantino himself will likely make millions in bonuses from the tournament; his bonus increased from $2 million to $3 million just last year. This money goes to a man who has spent 18 months buttering up the American President, awarding him a “peace prize” invented by Infantino for his new best pal and attending Trump’s victory rally after the 2024 election.

This kind of corruption and profiteering is nothing new for Fifa. However, the silence of some who rightly called out World Cups held in Qatar and Russia for “sportswashing” but are silent on a World Cup hosted by a country which has actively participated in genocide in Gaza, brutal attacks on migrants and an illegal war in Iran is deafening. Not only that, but football once again has been shut off from working-class people, both in the host countries and around the world who want to watch their teams compete. It is nothing short of a travesty.

From this month’s Counterfire freesheet