What if the American violations ahead of the World Cup happened in an Arab country?

Even before the first whistle of the 2026 World Cup, scandals have already begun to surface. Long before reaching the pitches, we are currently stuck at airport gates and bogged down in visa complications, where the arbitrary measures and blatant violations practised by US immigration authorities reveal a narrow, security-obsessed mindset. These hostile actions completely contradict the very spirit of a global sporting tournament and the values of hospitality and passion that are supposed to unite the peoples of the world.

Yet, despite holding a valid visa and a diplomatic passport, US immigration authorities denied him entry and turned him back at Miami International Airport in a humiliating manner, utterly disregarding the principles of fairness and equal opportunity in football and preventing what should have been a watershed moment. This was by no means an isolated incident; the Iraqi national team faced similar treatment, when team captain and star striker Aymen Hussein was detained for hours at Chicago O’Hare International Airport. His phone was searched and he was subjected to intense interrogation, while the team’s official photographer was outright denied entry and deported following an interrogation that lasted over ten hours. Under the oversight of US border agencies, airport gates have been effectively transformed into arenas for violating the dignity of athletes and sabotaging the freedom of movement for players and staff.

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FIFA’s deafening silence and its failure to protect its own officials and players, such as referee Artan and the Iraqi delegation, prove that the international governing body prefers to flatter Washington and safeguard its commercial interests at the expense of athletic dignity and competitive fairness. This willful blindness extends to the ticketing crisis, where prices for certain seats have skyrocketed to astronomical levels, exceeding 11,000 US dollars due to the "dynamic pricing" system adopted by FIFA. Under the dual stewardship of the football governing body and US authorities, the World Cup has been hijacked from a celebrated global festival for the people into an elitist commercial venture targeting fans’ pockets without mercy.

We would have been subjected to endless editorials and investigative documentaries attacking the Arab host. Yet today, when taking place in America, these glaring failures are passed over in deafening silence by a muted press, starkly exposing the profound double standards that manufacture global sporting opinion.

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