Editorial: The men who sold out the World Cup

FIFA president Gianni Infantino described the 2026 World Cup as the “greatest sporting, social and cultural event in humanity”.

US President Donald Trump described the tournament as “one of the greatest events of any kind ever held”.

There is good reason why the statements by both Infantino and Trump are being scrutinised or derided all over the world, and it has nothing to do with Argentina’s players’ shameful behaviour in the final.

Let’s start with the positive: there was, unquestionably, some wonderful football. Spain were worthy champions, minnows like Cape Verde stunned the big nations, while several matches delivered some late drama and surprises.

Yet much of what surrounded the football sucked the life out of it.

In reality, the 2026 World Cup ended up being a vast money-making machine, packed with discrimination and political spectacle in which the game itself was sometimes relegated to a footnote.

For starters, the cost of attending matches was obscene, leaving the tournament inaccessible to tens of thousands of supporters around the world.

Even the matches were increasingly shaped around commercial considerations. The newly introduced hydration breaks were criticised by fans who saw them as convenient advertising opportunities. The final itself – football’s greatest match every four years – was interrupted by a 27-minute half-time break to accommodate a Super Bowl-style show featuring some of the world’s biggest entertainers.

It was entirely in keeping with Trump’s transactional view of the world – and with an increasingly compliant Infantino's determination to flatter him.

Infantino had already created the FIFA Peace Prize for Trump, in one of the most pathetic displays of brown-nosing in sporting history.

It was freefall from then on. During the tournament, Trump called the FIFA boss to seek a review of the red card shown to US striker Folarin Balogun. Incredibly, FIFA complied, placing the player’s one-match suspension on probation, allowing him to play in the next round. Trump claimed credit in one of the most disgraceful acts of political interference.

More troubling was the tournament’s record on inclusion, or lack of it.

Iran’s delegation had to base itself in Mexico after 14 staff members were denied visas to enter the US, despite assurances that qualified teams would be welcomed. Many supporters, particularly those from African and Muslim-majority countries, were also unable to travel.

The future is hardly reassuring

Even a Somali referee was denied entry despite holding a valid visa.

“This World Cup has been played against a backdrop of the US government’s abusive immigration crackdown,” said Minky Worden of Human Rights Watch, who accused FIFA of failing to uphold its own human rights standards.

That failure cuts to the heart of FIFA’s grandiose claims. A tournament cannot seriously describe itself as humanity’s greatest social and cultural event while excluding legitimate participants and supporters because of where they were born.

The future is hardly reassuring. Infantino has indicated FIFA will examine expanding the World Cup again, from 48 to 64 teams. That would potentially increase the number of matches from the current 104 to 128.

This would give more small teams a chance to participate but endless expansion risks diluting the quality, significance and exclusivity of a tournament that billions anticipate every four years. More teams mean more matches, more broadcast rights, more sponsorship inventory and, above all, more money.

That increasingly appears to be FIFA’s overriding purpose.

The football occasionally rose above everything constructed around it. But the 2026 World Cup will be remembered for extortionate prices, discrimination, commercial interruptions and the unedifying alliance between Trump and Infantino - capped by the US president embarrassing himself as he did his utmost to remain in Spain’s picture of triumph.

So no, Mr Infantino. It was not humanity’s greatest celebration of unity. It was arguably the most divisive World Cup in history – and calling it anything else is an insult to those who love the game.