{"id":312119,"date":"2026-01-19T12:00:43","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T12:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=312119"},"modified":"2026-01-16T20:08:39","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T20:08:39","slug":"world-cup-boycott-calls-grow-in-response-to-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2026\/01\/world-cup-boycott-calls-grow-in-response-to-trump\/","title":{"rendered":"World Cup Boycott Calls Grow in Response to Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"

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13 Jan 2026\u00a0<\/em>– The drums of protest and calls to boycott the 2026 FIFA World Cup\u00a0 in the United States are beating louder. Thousands of fans are expressing concern about the tournament\u2019s security, outrage over the armed attack in Venezuela, and the controversial human rights policies of the Donald Trump administration. According to European media, messages promoting ticket cancellations on resale forums, travel agencies, and hotel booking sites have not only prompted extraordinary meetings between officials and representatives of member associations, but have also generated discussions about potential strategies to address the shifting perceptions surrounding the tournament.<\/span><\/p>\n

Since late last year, an informal group of international supporters created the website BoycottUSA2026.org in response to the violation of civil liberties of visitors from Australia, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and other European countries, who have been deported in various cities by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). \u201cThe U.S. government has revoked thousands of visas and denied entry to legal residents,\u201d stated members of the group from New York, the host city of the World Cup final, which is being co-hosted by the U.S., Mexico, and Canada. \u201cParticipants must demand that FIFA prioritize the safety and rights of fans and players.\u201d<\/p>\n

Social media not only represents a space for grievances for the #BoycottFIFAWorldCup movement, but also a significant mobilization tool. The campaign is coordinated by users who utilize threads on X (formerly Twitter) and TikTok videos to expose the contradiction between sporting values \u200b\u200band a long history of violence and abuse ordered by President Donald Trump. \u201cI canceled my World Cup tickets,\u201d announced Lebanese diplomat Mohamad Safa, executive director of PVA Patriotic Vision\u2014a non-governmental organization accredited as a consultant to the United Nations\u2014on Thursday, fearing that ICE agents would consider him a dangerous individual due to his background.\"\"<\/a>Fan trips from around the world are being cancelled<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cICE can decide I\u2019m a gang member and lock me up in prison for a year without charges, without a hearing, without a trial, without the right to consult a lawyer or make any phone calls. It\u2019s not safe to visit the United States,\u201d Safa wrote, referring to the tightening of the U.S. government\u2019s immigration policies. \u201cThreatening to revoke my U.S. visa in response to the World Cup boycott campaign won\u2019t change anything. Fans around the world are canceling their trips. FIFA expelled Russia from international football. Now it must do the same with Israel; the law applies equally to everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although the governing body of soccer maintains that it cannot intervene in geopolitical issues due to a principle of neutrality\u2014anti-immigrant raids, intervention in Venezuela, and Israel\u2019s genocide in the Gaza Strip, for example\u2014in 2022 it acted swiftly to sanction Russia for its military intervention in Ukraine. The creators of the website BoycottUSA2026.org, based in New York\u2014the host city of the tournament final on July 19\u2014promote building a solidarity network among fans, supporters, journalists, and other organizations to \u201csupport the immigrant communities where we live\u201d and provide resources on \u201chow to act safely around law enforcement.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must not allow these acts to become normalized.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

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Ajamu Baraka<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The voices of the collective and diplomat Mohamad Safa have also been linked to those of professors, content creators, and political activists, such as Ajamu Baraka, the 2016 US vice-presidential candidate, who has pointed out the potential human rights violations at the World Cup, fueled by FIFA\u2019s convenient ties to Donald Trump. \u201cHow can the United States be rewarded with hosting the World Cup, with its hands stained with Palestinian blood and an illegal attack on Venezuela? We must not allow these acts to become normalized. Postpone the matches, boycott the United States,\u201d he wrote on his social media accounts on January 3.<\/p>\n

On the nonprofit technology platform Action Network, dedicated to providing tools for progressive groups to mobilize their supporters, raise funds, and manage political campaigns, more than 3,240 people have launched an initiative urging FIFA and the International Olympic Committee to ban the United States and Israel from hosting or participating in international sporting events. \u201cThe world is witnessing massive violations of human rights and the U.S. Constitution as masked agents in unmarked vehicles raid workplaces, homes, and public squares to arrest people and deny them legal representation,\u201d states the petition on actionnetwork.org.<\/p>\n

Go to Original – resumen-english.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

13 Jan 2026\u00a0– The drums of protest and calls to boycott the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the USA are beating louder. Fans are expressing outrage over the armed attack on Venezuela and the controversial human rights policies of the Donald Trump administration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":312151,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[223],"tags":[3837,2745,3099,1693,1146,249,70],"class_list":["post-312119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-boycott","tag-fifa","tag-soccer","tag-soccer-world-cup","tag-sports","tag-trump","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=312119"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312119\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":312153,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312119\/revisions\/312153"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/312151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}