War, racism and Trump: Has corruption overshadowed the 2026 World Cup?
Submitted by
Elis Gjevori
on
Tue, 07/14/2026 - 11:01
From travel bans to red card reversals, the World Cup has played out under a cloud of US power and political interference
Donald Trump dances after the results of the draw for the 2026 FIFA Football World Cup taking place in the US, Canada and Mexico, at the Kennedy Center, in Washington, DC, on 5 December 2025 (David Ramos/Getty Images via AFP)
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It was supposed to be the biggest World Cup in history: 48 teams, three host nations and a record $9bn in Fifa revenue to more than fill the coffers.
Instead, the 2026 World Cup may be remembered for dodgy calls on the pitch and two men off the pitch: Donald Trump, determined to use the tournament to bolster his image, and Gianni Infantino, the Fifa president who seemed only too willing to bend the game to the whims of a capricious US president.
Put aside the astronomical ticket prices, the punishing transport costs between matches, and the extreme heat. It became clear early on that this would be an imperial World Cup, shaped by an imperial US presidency.
The cloud of corruption and influence-peddling hanging over the current tournament has left some World Cup fans looking back wistfully at the tenure of disgraced former Fifa president Sepp Blatter, who Infantino succeeded.
Blatter wrote on X last week that "football must never become a playground for political power".
Some fans have even called for the controversial 90-year-old Swiss administrator, who is banned from participating in Fifa activities until 2027, to return to football's governing body as president and "make corruption classy again".
Others noted that "Infantino and Fifa are so corrupt that even Sepp Blatter, the chief of corruption, is shocked."
Here, Middle East Eye takes a look at the decisions that have clouded the beautiful game's most beautiful tournament.
The 'peace prize'
As the US and Israel were planning to attack Iran on 28 February, Trump was preparing to receive the first, and likely only, “Fifa Peace Prize”.
In December last year, at a gathering hosted for him in Washington, the president walked on stage at what was then called The Donald J Trump and the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts - renamed by Trump in his own honour and later reversed by the US courts - to receive a gold medal and a golden statue.
Donald Trump delivers his speech after receiving the FIFA Peace Prize from Fifa President Gianni Infantino during the draw for the 2026 FIFA World Cup taking place on 5 December 2025 (Sua Loeb/AFP)
At the ceremony, Infantino told Trump: “We want to see hope, we want to see unity, we want to see a future. This is what we want to see from a leader and you definitely deserve the first Fifa Peace Prize.”
Since then, the US has kidnapped Venezuela's head of state, threatened to invade Greenland, intensified the blockade on Cuba and plunged into a war with Iran.
World Cup referee banned
Omar Artan is a Somali referee. He was set to become the first official from his country to referee at a World Cup.
US authorities denied him entry at Miami International Airport, detained and questioned him for roughly 11 hours, and then deported him, citing “vetting concerns”. A White House official later told reporters Artan had been “talking to some very bad people”.
The US provided no evidence to support its claim. But the ban reflected the Trump administration’s hostile approach to Somalia and, in particular, to Somali communities in the US.
Trump has made it his mission to insult Somalia and Somali Americans, telling them to “go back to where they came from”.
Somalia also sits on Trump’s travel ban list.
The travel bans
That travel ban cast a deeper shadow over the tournament. Fans from Haiti, Iran, Ivory Coast, Senegal and dozens of other countries found themselves effectively locked out.
An Iran fan holds a flag and a ball while waiting for the team at the Marriott Hotel in Tijuana, Mexico, on June 27, 2026. (Guillermo Arias/AFP)
A separate visa bond scheme briefly demanded deposits of up to $15,000 from fans from Algeria, Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Senegal and Tunisia before officials suspended it under pressure.
Iran the ‘most oppressed' team
When Israel and the US launched their war on Iran, Trump probably did not expect it to overshadow the World Cup and continue throughout the tournament.
The Iranian head coach Amir Ghalenoei said his side had become the “most oppressed” team, after the US did everything possible to wear it down and push it out of the competition.
Before the tournament began, Trump wanted to force Iran out and replace them with Italy.
The US forced Iran to move their training base from Tucson, Arizona, to Tijuana, Mexico.
Officials revoked Iran’s ticket allocation days before the opening match, stranding fans who had already booked travel.
An Argentine fan holds cardboard cutouts depicting Argentina's forward Lionel Messi (Odd Andersen/AFP)
Players received visas only 10 days before Iran’s first game, while many coaching staff, media personnel and federation officials, including federation president Mehdi Taj, were denied entry altogether.
For their first two matches, Iran had to enter the US within 24 hours of kick-off and leave immediately afterwards, cutting training time and denying players proper rest and recovery.
Suspensions for Balogun and Ronaldo lifted
Before the tournament, Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo had a customary three-match ban for violent conduct commuted by Fifa’s disciplinary committee to a one-game ban, leaving the veteran superstar free to play from the start of the World Cup.
Once the football began, nothing captured Washington’s brazen willingness to put its finger on the scale for its own team more than the case of Folarin Balogun.
The US striker received a red card in the Round of 32 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina, triggering an automatic one-match suspension under Fifa’s own disciplinary code.
Days later, Fifa quietly lifted the ban after Trump called Infantino directly to “review” the decision because the US president believed "no foul" had been committed.
Palestinian football fans react as they watch the 2026 FIFA World Cup Round of 16 match between Argentina and Egypt on a screen in the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Ramallah on 7 July 2026 (Zain Jaafar/AFP)
Trump’s public confirmation that he pressured football’s governing body to reverse the decision was unprecedented. It drew immediate backlash from fans and football bodies around the world.
Uefa, European football’s governing body, issued a furious statement, accusing Fifa of crossing “a red line” by making an “incomprehensible and unjustifiable” decision to bow to political pressure.
According to Fifa’s own account of events, the review cleared Balogun to play in the Round of 16 match against Belgium. The US was roundly thrashed.
Argentina vs Egypt
The politics grabbed the headlines, but on-pitch decisions, many based on video replays, also caused a backlash.
Argentina’s chaotic 3-2 comeback win over Egypt in the Round of 16 produced its own storm over contested VAR calls, compounded by scrutiny of an on-field exchange involving Messi and Egypt’s staff around an anti-racism gesture.
Egypt had led 2-0 and appeared on course for a place in the quarter-finals before conceding three late goals.
But the result was quickly overshadowed by anger over the officiating, including an Egypt goal ruled out after review, late penalty appeals waved away, and protests from the Egyptian bench before Argentina’s stoppage-time winner.
US fans arrive at Seattle Stadium before the FIFA World Cup 2026 Round of 16 match between the United States and Belgium on July 6, 2026. (David Ramos/Getty Images via AFP)
The anger was also visible on the touchline, where members of Egypt’s coaching staff protested the decisions as players argued with officials.
Online, many said the calls denied Egypt a fair chance to advance, turning the match into one of the most fiercely debated games of the knockout stage.
Racism in the World Cup
Racism also has shadowed the World Cup, with incidents reported inside stadiums, online and around security checks.
In the lead-up to Egypt’s match against Argentina, a video circulated online showing an Egypt supporter asking an American security guard whether she was “patting down” only Egyptian fans.
At what appeared to be the stadium entrance, the guard replied: “Yeah, because these are the orders coming in right now.”
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Inside the stadium, tensions escalated. Argentina fans were filmed attacking Egyptian supporters after their side fought back from 2-0 down in the first half.
Other videos and photos posted by fans showed Argentine supporters waving Israeli flags towards Egypt’s coaching staff as they left the pitch.
Egypt head coach Hossam Hassan has spoken passionately about the plight of Palestinians, especially in Gaza, where Israel has waged a genocidal war since October 2023. Hassan dedicated his team’s World Cup knockout win against Australia to Palestine. “I’m dedicating this victory to the Egyptian people and the Palestinian people,” he told reporters after the match.
Fifa has also launched an investigation into a confrontation involving streamer IShowSpeed and a fan at the 3 July World Cup match between Argentina and Cape Verde.
IShowSpeed was livestreaming the game and could be heard asking a fan in an Argentina shirt what had been said to him. The fan, speaking in Spanish, appeared to tell IShowSpeed, who is Black, to “go cry to the zoo”.
In a separate incident, France star Kylian Mbappe condemned Paraguayan Senator Celeste Amarilla after she posted racist remarks following Paraguay’s defeat to France.
Amarilla described Mbappe as a "colonised Cameroonian, desperately trying to pass himself off as French," and a "brute" who had not learned to write.
Fifa said on 1 July that “racial abuse is growing and has become a persistent threat to the wellbeing of players.” It said it had identified more than 89,000 abusive posts during the tournament, with 11 percent containing racial abuse.
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War, racism and Trump: Has corruption overshadowed the World Cup?
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