Sir Sadiq Khan has warned that online racism directed at England stars during the 2026 World Cup is “out of control”. The London Mayor stressed that England and other players have been targeted by “vile” individuals while representing their country at the tournament in America, Canada and Mexico.
Players Targeted with Racist Abuse
Jude Bellingham, Bukayo Saka, Djed Spence and Noni Madueke are among the England players who have been verbally attacked online with the “N-word”. Calling out the racism ahead of England’s last-16 tie against Mexico on Monday, Sir Sadiq posted on X: “Someone has to say it. The amount of online racism directed at World Cup players - including the England squad - is out of control. We can't allow a vile minority to divide us. Much of this content is illegal and Ofcom should investigate. Solidarity with every player targeted.”
Fifa Reports Surge in Abusive Posts
World Cup chiefs have warned of a “significant” rise in the most serious cases of online racist abuse. Fifa’s Social Media Protection Service (SMPS) stressed that nearly 90,000 abusive posts were identified across the group stages of the tournament. The total is a staggering 13 times more than the 6,700 abusive comments identified at the 2022 tournament in Qatar, although 48 matches were played then rather than 72. Racism represented just over one in ten (11%) of the abusive remarks in the last few weeks.
“This is not only a three per cent rise when compared to the equivalent stage of the Fifa World Cup Qatar 2022, but it also marks a significant increase in the objectively worst, most offensive material,” said the footballing social media bosses. “Technical improvements to the SMPS’s capabilities in detecting and handling potentially harmful content has contributed to the increase in the number of instances reported. However the data trends show a concerning direction of travel in terms of racially aggravated abuse.” Law enforcement agencies have been passed details of more than 100 cases above the legal thresholds for court action.
Netherlands Players Also Abused
Players for the Netherlands who missed penalties in the last-32 shootout defeat to Morocco on Monday all suffered racist abuse. Justin Kluivert, Quinten Timber and Crysencio Summerville were subjected to discriminatory, racist and hateful comments on social media, said the Royal Dutch Football Association. The abuse has echoes of the racism directed at Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Saka after they missed penalties when England were beaten by Italy at the Euro 2020 final at Wembley. “It's just not what we stand for,” the then England manager Gareth Southgate said at the time. “We have been a beacon of light in bringing people together, in people being able to relate to the national team, and the national team stands for everybody.”
Fifa's Monitoring Efforts
For the group stages of the 2026 tournament, Fifa social media officials scanned more than six million posts and comments, an increase of 33% compared to four years ago, with 225,000 identified for human review. Around 1,000 accounts were identified for further investigation and 181,000 hateful comments hidden.
