Football belongs to the world, not to FIFA

The buildup to this year’s tournament left me with a sour taste, but then ....

Prince George, BC, June 25, 2026/ - There are many reasons why I did not plan to follow the 2026 Men’s Football World Cup. From FIFA’s (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) double standards in banning only certain countries, to the exorbitant prices fans are forced to pay to attend games, to the amount of my BC taxes that are going toward hosting games in Vancouver, the buildup to this year’s tournament left me with a sour taste.

Then I saw that the Democratic Republic of Congo had tied powerhouse Portugal, the first European country to engage in the transatlantic slave trade, and I came to an important realization: The spirit of the game of football (what Canadians and Americans call soccer), like the human spirit, cannot be extinguished, even by those who lack any sense of human decency.

Unlike sports that require significant financial investment, almost anyone can play football. When I lived in Congo, I watched barefoot children tie strings around a bunch of plastic bags to make a ball, use rocks to make a goal, and play intense games of football on sandy roadways in the heart of the capital, Kinshasa. Wealth may be a barrier to attending a World Cup game, but it is not a barrier to enjoying football.

I recall teaching about the desegregation of major sports leagues in North America in a Social Studies class. An astute student athlete asked, “Mr. Chidiac, if you want to win, why does the race of the players even matter?” It was a question I was unable to answer, and the wisdom of my student is affirmed in every World Cup match.

This is not to say that racism does not exist in football. European teams, for example, welcome great players from immigrant families, but they also turn quickly against them if they do not perform. In 2021, Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka from the English national team were subjected to significant online racial abuse after missing penalty shots in the European Cup final. French players Kingsley Coman and Aurélien Tchouaméni suffered a similar fate after a 2022 World Cup loss.

In the United States, the Trump administration is trying to eliminate birthright citizenship, yet their current top goal scorer, Folarin Balogun, would not be eligible to play for that country if not for this law. He was born to Nigerian parents who were visiting the United States (they were residents of the United Kingdom, and his pregnant mother was not allowed to board a return flight to London) when he was born. Yet, President Donald Trump has publicly stated, “Birthright citizenship is a disgrace.”

Despite the xenophobia, nothing can extinguish the reality that football does not care where you were born, what religion you follow, or what you look like. This is even more the case now that FIFA has expanded the number of teams in the Men’s World Cup from 32 to 48. Ten of the teams in the 2026 tournament are from Africa, twice the number that were in the 2022 World Cup. Only four of these teams suffered losses in their first game. Having seen firsthand the exceptional level of play in Africa, despite the lack of funding for well-groomed fields, and structured youth leagues with fancy uniforms, I am not the least bit surprised.

In addition, FIFA made the decision to allow the Palestinian flag into stadiums because Palestine is a member nation. The love the world feels for the Palestinian people is palpable among the fans from very diverse countries. At Vancouver’s FIFA Fan Festival on June 19, the Australian musician John Butler stated, “I won’t be silent to the genocide…Free Palestine!” and was met by thundering applause.

World Cup 2026 is proving that nothing can squash the world’s love for the beautiful game, and nothing can destroy the beauty of our common humanity.

Let’s enjoy the moment.