FIFA oddly abandoned anti-racism messaging for the Club World Cup
FIFA oddly abandoned anti-racism messaging for the Club World Cup
Anyone who has watched an international soccer game in the past decade has will know that FIFA'a anti-racism campaign plays a prominent visible role. There are "Say No To Racism" patches on the jersey sleeves and on the captain's armband. The same message appears on the field-side digital banners frequently throughout a game.
But for the inaugural expanded Club World Cup in the U.S., the anti-discrimination messaging has been completely absent. It's been absent to a point that it had to be a deliberate choice to leave the "Say No To Racism" campaign out of the stateside tournament.
The reason for that? FIFA hasn't been willing answer. But The Athletic did directly ask FIFA if the absence of the campaign had to do with a U.S. government that vocally opposes inclusivity and diversity, but FIFA didn't respond.
Oddly enough, FIFA did reportedly work on an anti-racism campaign for the Club World Cup but has opted to not display any of it in the tournament thus far.
In a statement, FIFA affirmed it remains against racism but didn't explain why the campaign has disappeared for these matches in the U.S. Via The Athletic:
'FIFA has a firm, zero-tolerance stance against all forms of discrimination and racism. This commitment was recently reinforced through the unanimous approval by the FIFA Council of the revised FIFA Disciplinary Code, which introduces new measures to fight racist abuse — including increased minimum bans for racist incidents and enhanced financial penalties as duly informed to the 75th FIFA Congress in Asuncion in May 2025.'
It's yet another major mistake that FIFA has made with the Club World Cup.
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