“The rulers made the tournament slogan a pun of the phrase ‘human rights’ — roughly, We are human and we are right — mocking the international community fighting the kidnapping and torture of political enemies.”
-Wright Thompson in While the World Watched
FIFA has a patten of supporting controversial regimes.
This behavior is not outright – the organization isn’t standing on rooftops and screaming their support – rather, it’s a support shown in what they don’t do. Actions speak louder than words, and FIFA’s decisions to allow nations with egregious human rights abuses to host the World Cup speaks volumes to what the organization values most – their revenue.
Kevin Tennent and Alex Gillet, in their 2018 article published in The International Journal of the History of Sport, discuss the commercial aspects relating to the organizing of a World Cup by comparing the 1966 English-hosted and the 1996 U.S.- hosted World Cup. Of particular note to this post is the fact that the World Cup is FIFA’s “…main revenue stream and its flagship activity…” FIFA, in any event that bears their name, stands as a major stakeholder alongside leaders of nations in which their events are being held. Needless to say, FIFA, as an organization, relies on successful World Cups to replenish their coffers quadrennially – the same coffers from which FIFA officials fill their own.
FIFA’s decisions to allow World Cups to be hosted by nations violating human rights is, undoubtedly, tied to their need for revenue.
The 1978 Argentine-hosted World Cup is a pertinent example of FIFA turning a blind eye. The horrors committed by the Argentine regime were known to those living under it and the international community. Public outcry from within Argentina and the international community painted the event – before, during, and after. FIFA, as major stakeholders alongside the Argentine regime, allowed this World Cup to continue. Business as usual for them. Yet, mere blocks from the Estadio Monumental, Argentines were being held prisoner and tortured. Their pained screams mixed with screams of excitement from the footballing crowd. Women marched in circles in the Plaza de Mayo, hoping and begging to know what happened to their loved ones. Hoping that it wasn’t their screams they could hear in the boulevards. Begging that they hadn’t already been dumped into the rivers and oceans from death flights. All as they faced threats of their own disappearances for daring to speak out against the state.
Russia 2018 and Qatar 2022 show both FIFA’s compliance in human rights abuses and their reluctance to cancel World Cups. FIFA has seen backlash to the fast-approaching 2026 World Cup due largely to the Trump Administration’s immigration enforcement policies. This backlash and outcry has only intensified as cartel violence spurred by the government-backed killing of Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes has rocked to-be host city Guadalajara and Mexico as a whole and the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran have led to retaliation attacks across the Middle East.
As always, FIFA sits in a grey-zone. A non-governmental organization under the leadership of a president seen courting the world’s most powerful, FIFA’s decisions in the days to come – whether or not to continue on with the 2026 World Cup – will show the world where Football’s most important organization stands. Will they stand with a world desperate for peace or will they allow the World Cup to continue – filling their coffers once more?
For additional information on the human rights abuses committed by Argentina’s dictators through the lens of the 1978 World Cup see While the World Watched and Papelitos.
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