Amnesty International warns Fifa World Cup risks becoming ‘stage for repression’ | World Cup 2026

Amnesty International has warned that the World Cup, spread across three North American countries, risks becoming a “scene of repression”. The human rights organization released a report on Monday titled “Humanity Must Win” – calling on Fifa and host nations the United States, Canada and Mexico to take urgent action to protect fans, players and other communities.

Fifa has promised a tournament where everyone “feels safe, included and free to exercise their rights”. But Amnesty said that commitment contrasted sharply with conditions in the three host countries, particularly the United States, which hosts three-quarters of the 104 matches.

Amnesty described the United States as facing a “human rights emergency” under Donald Trump’s administration, marked by mass deportations, arbitrary arrests and what it called “paramilitary-style” Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations. ICE’s acting director said last month that the agency would be “a key part of the overall World Cup security apparatus.” This comes despite anger over the killing of two US citizens by ICE agents in Minneapolis in January.

Amnesty said none of the plans released by U.S. host cities addressed how fans or local communities would be protected from ICE operations. Fans from four countries – Ivory Coast, Haiti, Iran and Senegal – face travel bans to the United States and LGBTQ+ supporters groups from England and across Europe have said they will not attend matches in the United States, citing risks to transgender fans in particular.

“This World Cup is a far cry from the ‘medium risk’ tournament that Fifa once considered and urgent efforts are needed to close the growing gap between the tournament’s initial promise and today’s reality,” the report said.

Fifa said this month that the 48-team tournament – the biggest World Cup in history – would go ahead as planned with all teams participating, despite uncertainty over Iran’s presence due to conflict in the Middle East.

World football’s governing body, heavily criticized for its decision to award a new peace prize to President Trump in December, stands to earn $11 billion (£8.3 billion) from the tournament cycle.

“While FIFA generates record revenues from the 2026 World Cup, fans, communities, players, journalists and workers cannot pay the price,” said Steve Cockburn, head of economic and social justice at Amnesty. “It is these people – not governments, sponsors or Fifa – who own football, and their rights must be at the center of the tournament.”