Before the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, several Western nations engaged in loud performative gestures.
Norway threatened to boycott the tournament if they qualified. They didn’t qualify. Denmark considered a boycott but ultimately backed down at the last minute. The German team made headlines by spelling out “human rights” on the pitch in protest against Qatar’s record. Some German players themselves were reportedly reluctant, but the spectacle went ahead.
Fast forward to the same tournament: the United States detained Iraqi captain Aymen Hussein for seven hours. They denied entry to Africa’s top referee – a Somali official who would have made history as the first Somali referee at a World Cup. Senegal, the champions of Africa, were treated like criminals.
The Iraq team, the Iran team, and Moroccan players and fans faced similar humiliating treatment. Moroccan fans with valid tickets were denied entry. The Iraq team photographer was turned away despite a valid visa.
Fourteen members of Iran’s backroom staff were also blocked despite holding proper documentation.
And the performative outrage from the West? Deafening silence.
Where was Germany this time? Where were the European teams that had so eagerly performed solidarity with human rights when it involved a non-Western host? The double standard is glaring.
When the issues touched Qatar – a Gulf state with resources and geopolitical weight – the West staged moral theater. When teams and citizens from the Global South, particularly Muslim and African nations, are harassed and treated as terrorists by a rogue US regime, the same voices disappear.
This is not an isolated lapse. It is the consistent pattern of Western hypocrisy: cheap words, hollow proclamations, and selective gestures designed for domestic applause rather than genuine principle.
The Global South has seen this theater before – from colonial eras through modern geopolitics – and it is time to respond with unity rather than continued submission.
FIFA as an Entrenched Tool of Inequality
The corruption at the heart of FIFA makes this hypocrisy even more intolerable. Gianni Infantino’s leadership has been sustained by a system of bribes and patronage, where votes from football associations are bought to maintain power.
This infrastructure entrenches racism, inequality, and the unilateral awarding of hosting rights to favored nations while marginalizing others.
Global South governments must begin by cracking down on this rotten FIFA ecosystem. National football associations should demand transparency, reject bribe-driven politics, and push for equitable governance.
Hosting rights should not be the preserve of those who can navigate Western political approval or Infantino’s network.
The beautiful game belongs to the world – not to a cartel that reproduces colonial hierarchies under the guise of sport.
Time for Genuine Solidarity
The incidents at the 2026 World Cup – the detention of African and Asian teams, the denial of entry to officials and fans from the Global South – are symptoms of a deeper rot. While the West lectures on values, it continues to weaponize borders, visas, and security theater against the very nations whose talent enriches international football.
The Global South must unite. Football federations across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East should form stronger alliances to challenge FIFA’s imbalances, support each other against discriminatory treatment, and build independent structures that prioritize dignity over dependence.
Governments have a role: reject colonial puppets and external dictates in sports governance, just as they should in politics and economics.
The degenerate West will not police itself. Its selective outrage – loud on Qatar, mute on the humiliation of Senegalese, Iraqi, Iranian, Moroccan, and Somali participants – proves that performative gestures are tools of control, not justice.
True change will come only when the Global South asserts its collective power and refuses to be treated as second-class participants in a game it has helped globalize.
Enough with the double standards. The time for unity and decisive action is now.
