The FIFA World Cup 2026 raises more questions than answers. Cards cancelled by phone, FBI investigations and an invented peace prize. This is the story of the tournament.
FIFA has a slogan for the 2026 World Cup: “Football Unites the World.” It’s hard to imagine a more cynical message in the current context a tournament hosted by the US, while the Trump administration carries out mass deportations and has authorised military strikes in Iran, Nigeria, Somalia and Venezuela. If you repeat the message enough times, maybe it becomes true.
But the FIFA World Cup 2026 controversies are not about general political context. They are about concrete facts, official decisions and an FBI that has opened a preliminary investigation during the tournament. Here is what is really happening at FIFA World Cup 2026.
The FIFA Peace Prize the peace award nobody asked for.
In 2025, Donald Trump received the first peace prize ever awarded by FIFA “in recognition of his extraordinary actions to promote peace and unity around the world.” FIFA president Gianni Infantino declared that Trump “definitely deserves the first FIFA Peace Prize.”
The 2025 Nobel Peace Prize went to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado. FIFA chose to invent its own prize and award it to the president of the host country the same president who, in 2026, authorised airstrikes in several countries. The comment is unnecessary.
The red card cancelled by phone the scandal that shook the 2026 World Cup.
American player Folarin Balogun received a red card against Bosnia and Herzegovina in the group stage at FIFA World Cup 2026. Under FIFA regulations, that means an automatic suspension for the next match. The White House called FIFA to “understand” the situation. FIFA cancelled the suspension, allowing Balogun to play against Belgium in the round of 16.
The US lost 4-1. But that’s not the point. The point is that a president called an international sports organisation and the organisation yielded. The Royal Belgian Football Association criticised the decision, arguing that it directly contradicts FIFA’s own disciplinary code.
France tried the same thing to cancel Michael Olise’s yellow card. FIFA rejected the French appeal. The same rule, applied differently for two different countries. Nobody from FIFA leadership publicly explained why.
Argentina at the 2026 World Cup and the theories that won’t go away.
The Argentina-Egypt match at the 2026 World Cup triggered an avalanche of controversy. VAR overturned an Egyptian goal after a midfielder was penalised for stepping on Lisandro Martínez’s foot at the start of the move. A possible penalty in Argentina’s area was not reviewed. Argentina won 3-2.
The Egyptian Football Association filed an official complaint with FIFA. Conspiracy theories multiplied the most widespread claiming that FIFA would prefer Lionel Messi to lift the World Cup trophy from Trump’s hands, rather than Kylian Mbappé, who has been more vocal politically.
On 9 July, information emerged that amplified everything: the FBI opened a preliminary investigation into the Argentine Football Association’s financial operations in the US, examining whether transactions could constitute money laundering or fraud under American law.
FIFA and corruption a long history.
FIFA has never been a clean organisation. The 2015 FIFA scandal when the US Department of Justice indicted nine FIFA officials and five corporate executives for racketeering, fraud and money laundering demonstrated this clearly. The 2022 Qatar World Cup came with reports that over 6,500 migrant workers had died in the country in the decade after it won hosting rights.
But the FIFA World Cup 2026 adds something new to the history of football corruption: the direct and public interference of a president in the sporting decisions of a world tournament, accepted without any explanation by an international organisation that claims to defend the integrity of the game.
Football unites the world. Or at least it unites those with enough power to call and receive an answer.
