Beneath the Pitch: The 2026 World Cup, FIFA Corruption, and the Shadow of Sportswashing

The 2026 World Cup is now in full swing in 16 cities across the United States, Mexico, and Canada. In my home city, Boston, the streets are flooded with national supporters from all over the world. The Tartan Army, Scotland’s fans, have made dozens of local headlines over the past few weeks, drinking bars dry, ‘coning’ statues, among a lot of other fun stuff. The actual playing has been just as exciting, especially if you’ve been following the astronomic run that Cape Verde’s had. It is a shame they got knocked out by Argentina, but they probably would not have won that anyway. Regardless, beneath the celebrations and festivities lies something darker. It involves millions of dollars moving, right beneath people’s noses. 

In 2015, a joint investigation by the FBI and IRS led to the indictment of 14 soccer officials for wire fraud, racketeering, and money laundering. Over 24 years, these officials– as well as many others– had amassed over $150 million USD in bribes and kickbacks paid by sports marketing executives in return for being granted exclusive broadcasting rights over events like the Copa América, the CONCACAF Gold Cup, and the World Cup qualifiers. They were also bribed to vote for certain countries to host the World Cup, such as South Africa in 2010, Russia in 2018, and Qatar in 2022. In the end, 11 FIFA officials– Chuck Blazer and Aaron Davidson of the US, Alejandro Burzaco of Argentina, Rafael Esquivel of Venezuela, José Hawilla and José Margulies of Brazil, Alfredo Hawit of Honduras, Daryan and Daryll Warner of Trinidad and Tobago, Sergio Hadue of Chile, Jeffrey Webb of the Cayman Islands, and Eduardo Li of Costa Rica– pled guilty and went to prison. FIFA President Sepp Blatter, also implicated in the scheme, resigned. All of them were barred from professional soccer for life, and several countries opened criminal inquiries into their own officials. 

Adding to this controversy is the concept of ‘sportswashing.’ The term is used to describe leaders and governments (especially authoritarian ones) that use sports to distract from their controversies and improve their reputations. Sportswashing generally falls under a country’s ‘soft power ’-its ability to wield cultural relevance across the world. Both the above-mentioned 2018 Cup in Russia and the 2022 Cup in Qatar were marred by controversy. Russia aimed to distract from its aggressive foreign policy, poor human rights record, occupation of Crimea, and atrocities in the Chechen Wars, its intervention in Syria, and war with Georgia. Qatar, as well as the states of the Persian Gulf at large, wanted to attract new investment and interest in them, as their oil wealth would not last forever. Dissent erupted over the small nation being awarded the cup despite lacking almost any soccer culture at all, the high projected costs, environmental concerns in the desert country, and for the country’s sexism, homophobia, and slave-like treatment of migrant workers– Indeed, several migrant workers died building the stadium in which the games were held: 3, according to Qatari authorities, with an additional 37 for non-work-related deaths, but the actual number could be much higher. 

FIFA’s handling of these controversies has also been lacking. For the 2022 Cup, FIFA President Gianni Infantino issued a controversial letter to participating nations essentially telling them to stop talking about Qatar’s human rights record. He also gave a rambling, roundly mocked address in which he said he “felt Qatari…Arabic…gay…disabled…like a migrant worker” because he knew what it was like to be discriminated against. 

All of these controversies, of course, should not distract from the positives of the World Cup. The World Cup is still a source of pride for their competitors and countrymen, as well as a unifying spectacle for the entire world. Events like the World Cup bring people together, something needed more than ever in the divided climate of the present. Nevertheless, it must be said that sports organizations like FIFA should be held to a higher standard than they are now.