The largest ever FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) World Cup boasting a record forty-eight teams is well and truly under way in the USA, Canada and Mexico. But even before a ball was kicked, the biggest football event on the planet was rather less than the ‘World Cup for everyone’ the organisers said it would be, threatening to eclipse the controversies around the previous event in Qatar four years ago. (1)
Last November Italy struck a sour note when their national coach Gennaro Gattuso suggested that the increased number of Afrikan teams, a record ten, should be be reduced in favour of Europe. Given that Italy last qualified in 2014 indicates that their problems may be closer to home. Perhaps Gattuso is harkening back to the tournament’s origins in 1930 where the thirteen competing teams came from North America (2), Europe (4) and South America (7) but none from Afrika, or Asia for that matter. (2)
What is telling is that the global uproar that greeted the awarding of the 2022 contest to Qatar was largely absent when the USA, along with Canada and Mexico were named in 2018 for the 2026 event. The year before this the Trump regime dropped almost 44,000 bombs on Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria while instituting a “Muslim ban” and lamenting the lack of European immigrants rather than those from “s___hole” countries. This led to calls to boycott the 2026 competition. (3)
In its second term, the Trump regime has put its white nationalism on overdrive. Entry restrictions or outright bans have been applied to more Afrikan and Asian counties including many that have qualified for the world cup. Internally, militarised state authorities are shooting citizens in the street, externally they launched a bombing spree across the world, taking in the Caribbean, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Somali, Syria, Venezuela and Yemen. FIFA’s response was to award Trump its inaugural ‘Peace Prize,’ for a person who has “taken exceptional and extraordinary actions for peace” and “united people across the world”. (4)
The predictable outcome of the unstoppable force of FIFA against the immovable force of USA domestic and foreign policy was, in the words of pundit Ian Wright, chaos! The former England striker was referring specifically to the banning of Somalian referee Omar Atan but that happened amidst the pile up of controversies like teams treated like “criminals” on landing in the USA, individual players delayed entry, team officials and fans with visas denied entry and the Iranian team, whose country the Israel and the USA started bombing in February, prevented from staying in the country in spite of all their matches being there. (5) Following the winter Olympics in January Haiti was forced for the second time this year to change a kit that referenced its revolutionary history. Some observers have claimed that this “echoes the long campaign to discredit and downplay the Haitian Revolution. Yet officials can get away with what many claim were white supremacist hand gestures. (6)
Calls for FIFA to intervene for the ‘good of the game’ were met this exhortations by its president Gianni Infantino to “chill, relax.” (7) In reality this should surprise no one, as writer and activist Ajamu Baraka argues:
“FIFA is not a politically neutral institution. Born within and shaped by the structures of European colonial power, FIFA developed as an instrument of Western cultural dominance, extending control over the world’s most popular sport while presenting that control as universal and apolitical.” (8)
In this regard, there can be very little distinction between FIFA and that other major sporting body, the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Warrior scholar Chinweizu has previously asserted:
“Does the Black world need the Olympics? I think not. It is my contention that the Olympic Games are neither in fact or name the world games they pretend to be…the Olympics are a Western institution in which the rest of us are half-tolerated paying guests… Inspired by an ancient Greek festival, founded by a Frenchman and headquartered in Switzerland. All presidents of the IOC have been Westerners; all the Olympic events, except judo, are either Western in origin or are played in their Western versions.” (9)
In this context it should be borne in mind that USA is set to host the next Olympic Games in 2028 which, if the current USA policies are applied, will have an even more devastating impact when applied to 10,500 athletes and as coaches, medical, and administrative staff. Calls to boycott or cancel are already underway. (10)
His suggestions for possible correctives include:
1) Use the existing structure to reform from within in order to “dilute its Eurocentrism” (e.g. hosting it in the Afrikan world); 2) Conditional withdraw until the structure is satisfactorily reformed; 3) Unconditional withdraw and initiate a separate, non-racist world games structure. (11)
Extricating ourselves from well established structures can be daunting yet the journey of a thousand miles begins with the simple step. This is why we could do a lot worse than follow the example of the Pan-Afrikan Sports & Culture Day, an annual event where community foundation schools meet on the field of sporting endeavour and from this basis has grown a range of community initiatives and enterprises including the Pan-Afrikan People’s Parliament.
Back in 2022 there was a firestorm of protests about whether Qatar should host the World Cup but these fell away once the first ball was kicked and people became engrossed in ‘the beautiful game.’ Some of the loudest voices from 2022 have been decidedly muted this time around so there’s every reason to believe it will happen again, ensuring the power balance remains skewed. (12)
(1) Jacob Leeks (05/12/22) Petition for football to be saved from “morally bankrupt” FIFA reaches 100k signatures. https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/fifa-qatar-world-cup-petition-28645799
(2) Roderick Balenda (16/11/25) BA Message to Gennaro Gattuso: It’s Not Africa’s Fault that Italy is Crap.. https://brnbalenda.medium.com/a-message-to-gennaro-gattuso-its-not-africa-s-fault-that-italy-is-crap-7c2114e4beb5; Kelvin Ndunga (17/11/25) Gattuso’s Africa remarks spark outrage as Italy chases survival. https://www.dailysabah.com/sports/football/gattusos-africa-remarks-spark-outrage-as-italy-chases-survival; Sofascore (02/02/26) We Were the Champions: 1930 (Uruguay) FIFA World Cup Recap. https://www.sofascore.com/news/we-were-the-champions-1930-uruguay-fifa-world-cup-recap
(3) Angelo Young (05/03/22) The Number of Bombs Dropped by the US in Each of the Last 15 Years. https://247wallst.com/special-report/2022/03/05/the-number-of-weapons-the-us-released-every-year-since-2007/; CBBC Newsround (06/12/17) Trump’s US travel ban: What’s the full story? https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/38794001; Ali Vitali, Kasie Hunt and Frank Thorp V (11/01/18) Trump referred to Haiti and African nations as ‘shithole’ countries. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-referred-haiti-african-countries-shithole-nations-n836946; Ahmed Olayinka Sule (25/11/22) If Qatar Shouldn’t Host The World Cup, Neither Should the United States. https://alatenumo.medium.com/if-qatar-shouldnt-host-the-world-cup-neither-should-the-united-states-a9fd50426c51; Black Alliance for Peace (28/05/26) Black Alliance for Peace Calls On International Community to Boycott the 2026 World Cup Games Scheduled for the United States. https://blackallianceforpeace.com/bapstatements/call-to-boycott-the-2026-world-cup
(4) Neil Olsson (18/02/26) Op-ed: ICE doesn’t just use Gestapo tactics; its expansion intentionally legitimizes white supremacy. https://huntnewsnu.com/91415/editorial/op-ed-ice-doesnt-just-use-gestapo-tactics-its-expansion-intentionally-legitimizes-white-supremacy/; Shola Lawal (31/12/25) How many countries has Trump bombed in 2025? https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/12/31/how-many-countries-has-trump-bombed-in-2025; Emma Smith (05/12/25) President Trump wins inaugural Fifa Peace Prize. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cy5gw0wv5zqo
(5) Kieran Jackson (09/06/26) Frustrated Ian Wright criticises ‘World Cup of chaos’ after African referee denied entry. https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/ian-wright-world-cup-2026-somalia-referee-b2992416.html; Sarah Hooper (09/06/26) US accused of treating World Cup teams like ‘criminals’ https://metro.co.uk/2026/06/09/us-accused-treating-world-cup-teams-like-criminals-28705707/; Martin Belam (09/06/26) World Cup 2026 visa chaos: from referee Omar Artan to Iranian officials – who is affected? https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jun/09/world-cup-2026-visa-restrictions-referee-omar-artan-iran-officials; Samuel Jackson (23/01/26) The World Cup and the Olympics should not be showcases for Trumpism or America First. https://www.libdemvoice.org/the-world-cup-and-the-olympics-should-not-be-showcases-for-trumpism-or-america-first-79042.html
(6) Julia Gaffield (15/06/26) FIFA’s Haiti jersey ban echoes the long campaign to discredit and downplay the Haitian Revolution. https://theconversation.com/fifas-haiti-jersey-ban-echoes-the-long-campaign-to-discredit-and-downplay-the-haitian-revolution-285218; The Associated Press (16/06/26) World Cup official says twitch caused gesture resembling supremacist sign; FIFA says no breach. https://www.nbcnews.com/sports/soccer/world-cup-official-says-twitch-caused-gesture-resembling-supremacist-s-rcna350234
(7) Janina Nuno Rios and Angelica Medina (10/06/26) ‘Chill, relax’: Infantino says FIFA working on visa problems but cannot overrule governments. https://www.reuters.com/sports/soccer/fifa-chief-infantino-defends-visa-handling-ticket-prices-eve-world-cup-2026-06-10/
(8) Ajamu Baraka (17/06/26) “Don’t Worry Be Happy”: The World Cup as an International Psy-Op. https://blackagendareport.com/dont-worry-be-happy-world-cup-international-psy-op
(9) Chinweizu (1987) The Olympic Games and The Black World in Decolonising the African Mind, Pero Press. p. 201-202.
(10) Joe Mathews (27/07/25) Cancel the 2028 L.A. Olympics. https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/cancel-summer-olympics-los-angeles-20785014.php
(11) Chinweizu. Op. Cit.
(12) Tosin Gbaja (05/06/26) Opinion: If the Qatar World Cup was worth boycotting, so is USA 2026. https://herfootballhub.com/opinion-if-the-qatar-world-cup-was-worth-boycotting-so-is-usa-2026/
Should we boycott the World Cup?
1) Are you watching the World Cup?
2) Is FIFA really “an instrument of Western cultural dominance?”
3) Will the protests fade away now the football has started?
4) What can we learn from the PASCD model?
5) Now that the world cup is underway, should attention be turned to a 2028 Olympics boycott?
Our Special Guest:
Bro. Eneka Quamina: is activist, organiser and journalist. He is the founder of Neeks Sports, an online platform covering all sports stories and opinions, and more importantly, getting the reaction from the fans and public in general. Bro. Eneka is the sports director of the Pan-Afrikan Sports and Culture and was formerly the sports editor of The Whirlwind newspaper.
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