From political phone calls to dead goalkeepers, the beautiful game has never looked uglier.

By Shams Alam

I grew up believing football was different. On that green rectangle, it didn`t matter where you came from or what your passport said – the ball was round, the rules were the same for everyone, and the only thing that counted was what you did with your feet. The World Cup was supposed to be the greatest show of that ideal: unity, equality, fairness, solidarity.

The 2026 World Cup has shattered that illusion completely.

Let me walk you through just one weekend. One. Single. Weekend.

The "Cablegate" That Wasn`t

Norway were minutes away from halftime, leading England 1-0, when goalkeeper Ørjan Nyland launched a goal kick. The ball seemed to change direction mid-air – as if it had brushed one of the cables supporting the overhead spider-cam system. The ball fell to an England player. Seconds later, Jude Bellingham equalised.

Norwegian players surrounded referee Clément Turpin. Coach Ståle Solbakken was so convinced he later said: "We will talk about the wire until we are all dead".

FIFA`s response? Their "connected ball technology" detected "no unusual signals". Case closed. Never mind that replays – admittedly from poor angles – suggested a clear deviation. Never mind that IFAB Rule 9 clearly states play should stop if the ball touches an outside object. The sensors said no, so the goal stood.

But here`s where it gets interesting. Later in that same match, Norway had a goal disallowed because VAR penalised Erling Haaland for a shove on Elliot Anderson during a corner. The irony is almost too perfect: VAR can intervene for a push during a corner, but cannot detect a ball hitting a cable right in front of everyone`s eyes.

Norway`s media screamed it: "Norway was robbed". Erling Haaland`s father said his son`s team were "robbed". And you know what? They weren`t wrong.

The Red Card That Changed Everything

That same Saturday, in Kansas City, Switzerland were giving Argentina everything they could handle. They had just equalised 1-1 through Dan Ndoye. Momentum was swinging. The Swiss fairytale – their first World Cup quarterfinal since 1954 – was very much alive.

Then came the 72nd minute.

Breel Embolo went down under a challenge from Leandro Paredes. Referee João Pinheiro initially showed Paredes a yellow card. But then VAR intervened. Replays showed Embolo was already falling before Paredes made contact. Under a new "mistaken identity" protocol, Pinheiro rescinded Paredes` yellow and gave Embolo a second yellow – for simulation.

Embolo, already on a yellow, was sent off. He collapsed in tears and had to be consoled by teammates as he left the pitch.

Switzerland coach Murat Yakin was furious: "There was definitely no reason to award a yellow card. It was a harmless situation. ... We were punished because of a rule that is unacceptable. I don`t understand it. The fact that they intervened unnecessarily is extremely hurtful. It`s a rule that has nothing to do with football".

Switzerland defender Manuel Akanji put it even more bluntly: "I`ve never experienced such a one-sided game. Every little thing was called against us. Every dive and every foul by the Argentinians went unpunished".

Argentina went on to win 3-1 in extra time. Without that red card, who knows what might have happened?

The Pattern That Can`t Be Ignored

Now, let`s step back. This isn`t just about two matches.

Just days earlier, Egypt had lodged a formal complaint with FIFA after their 3-2 loss to Argentina. Egypt coach Hossam Hassan didn`t mince words: "This match was rigged, and the whole world saw it". A goal was disallowed for a soft foul. A penalty shout was ignored.

And then there was the Trump phone call – the one where the US president personally intervened to overturn a red card for an American player. FIFA bent. The suspension was lifted. The player played against Belgium.

Then there was Iran – the only team forced to shuttle between Mexico and the US, barred from staying on host soil, with 11 officials denied visas for no credible reason.

The Unforgivable Silence: A Goalkeeper`s Murder and FIFA`s Shame

But the most damning indictment of FIFA`s moral bankruptcy is its deafening silence over the killing of Palestinian goalkeeper Saleem al-Ashqar – shot dead by Israeli troops while searching for food. He was 32, newly married, his wife pregnant with their first child.

Over 500 Palestinian footballers have died since October 2023 – more than the entire squad list of this World Cup. FIFA rushed to suspend Russia in 2022 for far less. When Russia invaded Ukraine, FIFA acted within days. But for Gaza? For the systematic killing of players who belong to a FIFA member association? Nothing. Not a word. Not a condolence. Not an investigation. Just more "monitoring" and "delays".

This is not neutrality. This is complicity dressed in bureaucratic silence.

The Flag That Was Allowed, and the Flag That Wasn`t

And here is where the hypocrisy becomes almost too grotesque to bear.

When Egyptian coach Hossam Hassan displayed a Palestinian flag during a match, FIFA quickly clarified – "showing the Palestinian flag is not against any rule". It was a legally correct statement: Palestine is a FIFA member, its flag is a legitimate national symbol.

But then, in the same tournament, Argentine fans waved Israeli flags in the faces of Egyptian players and fans. The provocation was deliberate, theatrical, and intended to humiliate. Egypt`s players, already broken by biased refereeing, were taunted with the flag of a state whose military had just killed a Palestinian goalkeeper. And FIFA`s response?

Complete and utter silence.

No yellow cards. No warnings. No statements condemning the provocation. No clarification that this too might be "against the rules" under the "political symbols" clause.

So let me ask: How is a Palestinian flag a "neutral symbol" when displayed by an Egyptian coach, but an Israeli flag waved by Argentine fans to provoke Egyptian players is somehow not a political provocation?

FIFA`s rulebook says "no political symbols". But its enforcement is a farce: one side`s identity is "neutral," the other`s is "provocative" – but only when it suits FIFA. This selective outrage is not regulation. It is racism with a badge.

FIFA`s President: The Neutral Who Wasn`t

And through it all, Gianni Infantino sits at the centre of this circus – the man who gushed to Argentine media: "Tonight, my heart…" before catching himself. The man who said Messi "deserved" a World Cup before he`d even won one. The man who gave Donald Trump a "FIFA Peace Award" – a man who built walls and banned Muslims. The man who, when asked about the murder of a Palestinian goalkeeper, had nothing to say.

FIFA`s chief refereeing officer Pierluigi Collina responded to the bias allegations by saying: "Nobody can question the integrity" of the refereeing and "unfounded allegations have no place in our sport".

But when Egypt, Norway, and Switzerland – three different nations from three different continents – all walk away from matches against the same opponent feeling robbed, when a Palestinian goalkeeper is shot dead and FIFA says nothing, when Palestinian and Israeli flags are treated so differently that the inconsistency is blinding – when do "unfounded allegations" become a damning pattern?

Where Is the Solidarity? Where Is the Fairness?

The 2026 World Cup was supposed to be a festival – the first with 48 teams, spread across three nations, a celebration of football`s global reach. Instead, it has become a monument to hypocrisy.

VAR was supposed to remove human error. Instead, it has become a tool of selective intervention – reviewing a push during a corner but missing a ball hitting a cable, punishing a Swiss forward for simulation while ignoring Argentine dives.

FIFA`s rules were supposed to ensure fairness. Instead, they bend to phone calls from presidents, while players in Gaza are buried without a word from the governing body that claims to protect the game.

How Will FIFA Ever Wash Away These Stains?

It cannot – not with press releases, not with token investigations, not with Collina defending the indefensible.

The only path to redemption is radical accountability: an independent ethics inquiry into every controversial decision, a transparent review of the VAR protocols that have failed so spectacularly, a clear policy that puts human lives and sporting integrity above political convenience, and – most urgently – an immediate and unambiguous statement condemning the killing of a FIFA member association`s player and calling for a full investigation.

But I`m not holding my breath.

Because the saddest truth of this World Cup is this: football was never just a game. It was a promise – a promise that on the pitch, we were all equal. In 2026, FIFA broke that promise. Again and again and again.

And the beautiful game? It has never looked uglier

[Shams Alam is an Australia-based columnist who writes on political economy, geopolitics, socioeconomics, and neo-colonialism.]

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