Amnesty International has cautioned that the 2026 Fifa World Cup, hosted across the United States, Canada, and Mexico, could become a “stage for repression” unless urgent action is taken. In a report titled “Humanity Must Win,” the organisation called on Fifa and the host nations to safeguard fans, players, and communities.
Fifa has pledged a tournament where everyone “feels safe, included and free to exercise their rights.” However, Amnesty said this promise stood in “stark contrast” to conditions in all three countries, particularly the US, which will host 78 of the 104 matches.
The report described the US as facing a “human rights emergency” under the Trump administration, citing mass deportations, arbitrary arrests, and “paramilitary-style” Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations. The acting director of ICE stated last month that the agency would be “a key part of the overall security apparatus for the World Cup,” despite anger over the killing of two American citizens by ICE agents in January.
Amnesty noted that none of the published US host city plans address how fans or communities would be protected from ICE operations. Fans from four countries—Côte d’Ivoire, Haiti, Iran, and Senegal—face US travel bans, while LGBTQ+ fan groups from England and across Europe have said they will not attend matches in the US due to risks to transgender supporters.
“This World Cup is very far from the ‘medium risk’ tournament Fifa once judged it to be,” the report said, adding that urgent efforts are needed to bridge the gap between the tournament’s original promise and today’s reality. Fifa, which stands to earn $11bn from the tournament cycle, has faced criticism over awarding a peace prize to President Trump in December.
