Curbing free speech at WC a ‘betrayal of the spirit of football' – fans' chief
The United States is co-hosting the 2026 tournament alongside Canada and Mexico, with FIFA's Club World Cup starting in the US on Saturday.
Policies adopted by the US government under the presidency of Donald Trump have raised concerns among human rights group, particularly around immigration and the right to peacefully protest.
A travel ban for citizens of 12 countries – including World Cup qualifiers Iran – came into effect earlier this week, while the federal government's response to civil unrest sparked by immigration raids in Los Angeles has also drawn criticism from human rights groups and California governor Gavin Newsom.
The Rose Bowl in Pasadena, a city in Los Angeles County, will host six matches in the Club World Cup starting from Sunday, and the SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, also in Los Angeles County, will host eight matches at next summer's World Cup.
The Sport and Rights Alliance is concerned at what it sees as 'escalating crackdowns' on freedom of expression by the US government, particularly protests related to Palestine.
Ronan Evain, the executive director of Football Supporters Europe, said: 'Fans travel to the World Cup to celebrate and express their passion and any attempt to curtail our fundamental rights, including the right to free speech, is a betrayal of the spirit of football.
'We're particularly concerned about the potential for selective enforcement and discrimination against fans based on our perceived political views or national origin.
'FIFA must obtain the necessary guarantees to ensure fans from all over the world are able to safely travel and attend the games.'
The US government has said the travel ban will not affect players or support staff of any qualified nations, but it will make it impossible for fans to travel from Iran to watch the team.
Minky Worden, director of global initiatives at Human Rights Watch, said: 'FIFA should publicly acknowledge the threat US immigration and other anti-human rights policies pose to the tournament's integrity and use its leverage with the US government to ensure that the rights of all qualified teams, support staff, media and fans are respected as they seek to enter the United States, regardless of nationality, gender identity, religion or opinion.'
FIFA and the US State Department have been contacted for comment.
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BBC News
22 minutes ago
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Telegraph
24 minutes ago
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Empty seats, exhausted players, excess heat – the tournament that could embarrass Fifa
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The Fifa president Gianni Infantino insisted that his Club World Cup project was played in the bigger stadiums rather than those smaller stadiums in the next tier, many of which were MLS only. Fifa is not saying much when it comes to ticketing other than that its biggest ticket sales have been in the US, followed by Brazil, Argentina, Mexico and Canada. The sales of tickets in Britain is only 11th on the list behind France, Japan, Germany, Portugal and Saudi Arabia. At a Fifa event last week, Infantino said he expected 'a full stadium' for the opening game between Miami and Al-Ahly, and doubtless efforts were made with discounts and other offers. It is a reminder that this is a tournament that has not been driven in any way by match-going fan demand. Instead the match-going fans have been retro-fitted around it. The tournament itself, as has been well trailed, is a political play by Infantino to make an incursion into the lucrative broadcast rights for the elite club game – by which one means Uefa and the Champions League primarily. The location and the suitability or otherwise for a global, international tournament has been largely incidental. It ended up in the US because of the proximity of next summer's Fifa men's World Cup but it was originally intended in 2021 for China. There may well be big attendances at some of the games, and perhaps the latter stages might even attract the kind of sell-out crowds of big venues like the MetLife of which Infantino has dreamed. But that is not why the tournament was conceived. There was no groundswell of opinion that the fans wanted a 32-team summer tournament that would settle the argument once and for all as to whether Mamelodi Sundowns were a better side than Ulsan HD, or indeed that there must be a world champion. At least not a world champion that took four weeks and 63 games to decide. There was none of the fascination that existed, for example, in the post-war years with the relative merits of one style of European club football over another, which led to the establishment of the European Cup. This was entirely confected to demonstrate that Fifa and its president could create a tournament that might rival the Champions League. One so totally out of kilter with the rhythm of club football that it needed someone to tell Fifa that players' contracts could conceivably expire midway through it unless they changed the rules. It has been an extraordinary demonstration of the power of a Fifa president – who has pushed it through regardless of legal challenge and widespread opposition. Ideally for Infantino most of the big European teams stay in it to the end as well as a selection of the South Americans. It may suit the streamer DAZN and all its sub-licensees if the European teams dominate but, for Infantino, it will look like an unnecessary re-run of the Champions League. The best chance that challengers from South America and elsewhere might have is the indifference of some of those European-based players after a long, hard season and the punishing temperatures of the eastern US in summer. Bad for the players, but good for business. That said, the shortest-priced non-European with the bookmakers is Brazilian club Flamengo at around 33-1, placed behind nine European clubs in terms of the favourites. Either way, come July 13, one would get very long odds on Infantino declaring it anything other than a huge triumph. It does not matter how many seats are empty, how tired some of the players look or whether the wealthiest European clubs dominate the final stages – or whether some flop in the US heat. Infantino has got his tournament and all else will be secondary to that.
