This year’s Fifa World Cup, the world’s most popular sporting event, finds itself in an odd place. The tournament is being co-hosted by three countries: Mexico, Canada and the US. Unfortunately, one of the hosts seems to want nothing to do with the rest of the world, unless it is to launch a war or impose tariffs. While previous hosts have made every effort to accommodate fans from other countries, the US appears to have done the exact opposite. Fans, support staff, officials, and even players have faced tremendous obstacles in gaining entry to the US, almost as if they are not wanted there. Analysis of travel data by the BBC World Service shows that fans from more than a quarter of the countries taking part in the tournament are facing travel bans, tighter restrictions or high visa rejection rates. Of the 48 teams competing at the World Cup, Haiti and Iran face full entry bans to the US and the Ivory Coast and Senegal face partial restrictions and several competing nations suffer from standard US visa rejection rates exceeding 40 per cent, including Uzbekistan and Ecuador and several Middle Eastern and African countries, as per reports.
The fan association of the Ivory Coast, an African country that has produced some of the best players to ever grace a football pitch, has decided not to even bother trying to go to the US and the head of the football fan association from Jordan, whose visa application was also rejected, summed things up quite nicely by saying that ‘this World Cup is not for Arabs, it is for them’. The most egregious instances of the US restrictions have arguably been the ones imposed on the Iranian team and fans and award-winning Somalian referee Omar Artan. The latter was refused entry into the US after arriving in Miami, while the former allegedly had their ticket allocation revoked and some 15 administrative and management staff in its delegation have, as per Tehran, been prevented from entering the US due to visa issues. The Iranian team has moved its training base to Mexico. One can and should blame the US and Trump’s frankly racist immigration policies for this sorry outcome. But where is Fifa in all this? Last year, it said that everyone would be welcome, but now, in response to Artan being denied entry, it has meekly said that it is not ‘involved in host country immigration processes and that a host government ultimately determines who is admitted into their country’.
It is quite sad that a game that unites billions across the globe has custodians that are so lacking in courage and principle. And this is not to mention the many other criticisms this World Cup has generated, including exorbitant ticket prices. But what can fans really expect from an association that won’t even fully back its own officials? All the cosying up to Trump from FIFA leadership appears to have come to nought when it comes to actually making its tournament better. Or it could just be that the types of fans being most affected are not all that important. After all, 42 generally wealthier countries benefit from a visa waiver programme, but even some fans from rich countries have encountered entry issues. As such, Fifa’s big bucks appear to be secure – and that might be all that really matters to it.
