Football is a poor people’s sport kidnapped by the rich. The ongoing FIFA World Cup (WC), jointly hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico, is a prime example of it. All that FIFA, the governing body for global football, seems to be concerned with is how to make more money.

This is the biggest WC in history. The last WC had 32 teams. This one has 48. The number of matches has gone up from 64 to 104. Not only does this mean that there are more tickets to sell, this also gives more opportunities for advertising slots, sponsorships, hospitality packages, etc. 

In 1994, when the US first hosted the WC, its total revenue was under USD 1 billion. The Qatar WC in 2022 earned USD 7.5 billion. The current WC is expected to earn upwards of USD 13 billion.

Average ticket prices exceed USD 1,000 (about Rs 86,000 or more), with those for marquee matches topping USD 10,000 (Rs 8.6 lakh or more). Even The Economist, darling periodical of capitalists, called these prices “extortionate”. This is because FIFA is using, for the first time, “dynamic pricing” for tickets. In addition, FIFA has created an official marketplace for re-sale of tickets, collecting commissions from both the buyer and the seller. In other words, it has cornered the black market as well.

The entire viewing experience in this WC is oriented towards corporates rather than ordinary fans. FIFA makes money by selling them premium lounges, executive suites, VIP experiences, and business networking packages. Even fan zones outside the stadium are heavily sponsored. Every space, every experience in this WC is commercialised. 

In the past WCs used to be football tournaments where companies got advertising opportunities. Now, the WC is a commercial product with football as an excuse.

For over a century, football has been a sport of two equal halves of 45 minutes each with a half-time break not exceeding 15 minutes. This is the first time that two additional breaks have been introduced, ostensibly to protect players from the heat. Called ‘hydration breaks’, they are to be taken in the 22nd minute of each half. Expectedly, the naming rights for these breaks have also been sold. The buyer, the Australian deodorant and antiperspirant brand Rexona, has placed its logo on the referees’ T-shirt, under the armpit.

These breaks change the fundamental nature of the game itself. Contrary to FIFA’s claims, many commentators have noted that the real reason for the breaks is to insert more advertising into the match. In fact, on more than one occasion the referee delayed the re-start of the match to allow space for more advertisements. 

In all big international sports tournaments, the host country goes out of its way to be open and welcoming to fans. This boosts tourism revenue down the line, besides shoring up a positive image of the host, contributing to its ‘soft power’. Every country does this, but when countries that the Western media doesn’t like do it, it is immediately labelled ‘sportswashing’. Thus, for example, when Russia (2018) and Qatar (2022) laid out the red carpet for football fans, the Western media sneered at them. But when allies of the West, like Japan-South Korea (2002) or Germany (2006) do the same, it is just an expression of their innate goodness.

The current WC is perhaps the first time that nobody can accuse the host of ‘sportswashing’. The primary host, the US, has been positively hostile to fans from some countries. Fans from some countries have had to jump through multiple hoops to just get to the US. Fans from Algeria, Cabo Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, and Tunisia were initially required to deposit between USD 5,000 to 15,000 (INR 4.5 lakh to 13 lakh at a conservative estimate) just to be able to apply for a visa. 

This requirement was eventually waived, but it came late for one man. Vozinha, the 40-year-old Cabo Verde goalkeeper who became an overnight sensation after his magnificent performance in his country’s opening match against football powerhouse Spain, shared after the match how his mother could not see her son play because they couldn’t put up the deposit. After a global uproar, FIFA had to step in and make sure she was there for Cabo Verde’s second match against Uruguay. Despite this fairy-tale turn for Vozinha and his mother, and despite FIFA milking the biggest human-interest story of this WC as a photo-op, nothing can obscure the fact that this WC has been a showcase for Donald Trump’s racist policies towards people from the non-white world.

Even fans already in the US are facing a tough time. In previous WCs, transportation to matches was either free or highly subsidised. Not in the US. Fans have to shell out large sums to just get to the venues. This is because FIFA, a private body, corners the revenue from the WC, but pushes the costs on to the host. Social expenditure, private profit – what is true of capitalism is true of FIFA as well.

The WC today is a giant media ‘property’ off which FIFA makes billions by selling broadcasting rights. It wants us to watch the tournament, but not come for it if we have the wrong passport, religion, or skin colour.

FIFA itself has mutely stood by as teams, fans, and its own officials are subjected to humiliations. Consider these examples.

Somalian Omar Artan was in FIFA’s team of 52 referees for the WC. The US denied him entry. He returned to Somalia to a welcome befitting a national hero. Every US president in this century – George W Bush, Obama, Biden, and Trump – has bombed Somalia. How could Trump’s US allow a Somalian to be the boss on the football field, especially if he happened to officiate a game featuring the US?

Iraqi striker Aymen Hussein was detained at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport for seven hours and his phone was inspected. He was luckier than the official photographer of the Iraq team, Talal Salah, who was held for a longer time, also had his privacy violated, and was eventually denied entry. The visa for Haiti’s midfielder Woodensky Pierre was delayed inordinately. The national teams of Senegal and Uzbekistan were subjected to the indignity of being searched on the airport tarmac itself.

When the WC commenced, the US was at war with Iran. For a long time, there was uncertainty surrounding Iran’s participation. Would they be allowed to enter the US, and would the US guarantee their safety? If they were not allowed to participate, who would take their place? Would Italy, four times champion but unable to qualify for the third WC running, be granted a tennis-style ‘wild card’ entry?

Eventually the decks were cleared for Iran’s participation. The players were granted visas just ten days before their first match. However, fifteen members of their support staff were denied visas, and the tickets allotted to fans from Iran were cancelled.

Iran’s ordeal didn’t end here. Their base camp was shifted from Tucson, Arizona, to Tijuana, Mexico. They have been made to exit the US immediately after their matches are over. (One of their matches is in Seattle, over 1,700 km from Tijuana, just a little less than Mumbai to Dubai.) 

One Iran player, the winger Mehdi Torabi, was initially granted a single-entry visa to the US. When this became a point of embarrassment, he was granted a multiple-entry visa. Though there was no official explanation of why Torabi was only given a single-entry visa, it is easy to guess – he is a vocal supporter of the Iranian government.

This continuous and unremitting harassment makes a mockery of the concept of a level playing field. In effect, the US is forcing Iran to play with one hand tied behind their back.

Could FIFA have pushed back against US highhandedness? Absolutely. In 1966, when England demurred about hosting North Korea, FIFA threatened to take the WC elsewhere. England quietly fell in line. (Luckily, given it’s the only WC they’ve won.)

As sports have become more globalized and corporatized, the opportunities for corruption have also multiplied. In the rogues’ gallery of corrupt sports bodies – and we in India have no dearth of them – FIFA is a star. Corruption has been so rampant in FIFA that in 2015, over forty FIFA officials were arrested by the Swiss police from a fancy hotel on charges of bribing, fraud, money laundering, etc. These allegations of corruption went back more than two decades, covering the presidential tenures of João Havelange (1974–1998) and Sepp Blatter (1998–2015), and centered around the sale of television rights and sponsorship contracts. Eventually, Blatter and the man expected to succeed him, the former French great and head of UEFA, the body that governs European football, Michel Platini, were both expelled from FIFA. 

FIFA and US presidents have one thing in common – when you think they can’t get any worse, they do. Fittingly, the man who replaced Blatter, Gianni Infantino, presented Trump with a made-up ‘FIFA Peace Prize’ when he didn’t get the Nobel. It is under Infantino’s watch that FIFA has descended to its current levels.

While the World Cup mirrors the imperialist world order – corrupt, racist, exclusionary, unequal, with impunity for the powerful – the players have lit it up with their skill, athleticism, courage and artistry. Some of football’s biggest stars – Messi, Mbappé, Kane, Haaland, Salah – have dazzled early, some ‘weak’ teams such as Cabo Verde and Morocco have been superb on the field.

But the standout performance has surely been that of Iran’s team. Battling discrimination and roadblocks at every step, besides being jeered by hostile pro-monarchy diasporic Iranians, the team has nevertheless stood tall, undefeated in its first two matches – and would have won its second match against Belgium had its goal not been wrongly disallowed.

The people of Iran have made the imperialist US eat humble pie both on the field and off it. Irrespective of who lifts the trophy in July, World Cup 2026 is already memorable for showing the imperialist bully its place.