The Club World Cup kicked off over the weekend in the United States, and it's been a wild ride so far, in the most derogatory way possible. It's not so much about the games themselves, which have been mostly either stodgy goalless draws or one-sided beatdowns (thanks for coming, Auckland City, enjoy your 10-0 defeat to Bayern Munich!) in front of small, generally disinterested crowds (who could've imagined that a Monday afternoon match between Chelsea and LAFC in Atlanta wouldn't exactly pack the stadium?). Instead the real action for this rebranded and expanded version of the tournament has come off the pitch, as the tournament kicks off amidst nationwide protests and Donald Trump's quest to be the most special dictator he can be. Luckily for Trump, he has FIFA bending the knee left and right.
The concept of the Club World Cup itself may be exciting on paper—never-before-seen matchups! True global representation! Concrete proof that MLS does indeed suck!—but all of its ostensibly commendable aims are undermined by the core truth that this tournament exists solely to make FIFA lots of money, player welfare, fan interest, and competitive integrity be damned. That core truth is why the newfangled tournament never seemed all that compelling for those of us who don't stand to make millions from either producing or participating in it; the Trumpy specifics of this particular edition—all the reports about ICE and Customs and Border Protection showing up to games, as well as requests that everyone attending bring proof of citizenship, residency, or their visas—soured an already sour proposition.
The optics, in other words, are horrible, and FIFA is only making it worse by leaning into the reigning regime's culture war. I don't think anyone would say that the soccer governing body's "Say No To Racism" campaign is all that successful; there's plenty of racism to go around in soccer these days. But at least social and financial pressures had pushed FIFA to, if nothing else, pay lip service to inclusivity. But even that's gone now: Ahead of the Club World Cup, FIFA decided to abandon any form of messaging towards anti-discrimination, abandoning pre-match videos, as well as marketing materials and signs.
There are two ways to look at this decision, one more cynical than the other, neither being in any way admirable. On the one hand, perhaps FIFA has decided on its own that it is no longer exclusively beneficial to proudly exclaim that it might somewhat care about curbing racism in soccer—racists, after all, buy team shirts too. On the other, that this comes as Trump's America hosts a major tournament, and a year ahead of the World Cup that will be mostly held in Trump's America, is suggestive that the call here might've come from inside the White House.
We're all familiar with the Trump administration's War on Woke, and how its froth-mouthed terror of even the letters "DEI" recall a rabid dog's fear of its water bowl. It would be no surprise if, whether as a direct ask from someone in the government or from FIFA preemptively looking to kowtow to the government's bigotry, it was this anti-DEI sentiment that led to FIFA's anti-antiracism. FIFA is well acquainted with this kind of selling out of its supposed ideals. For a close analogue, you only need to look back to when it banned the pro-LGBTQ rainbow armband during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
It makes sense, then, that FIFA would renege on even the most harmless of initiatives to curry favor with Trump, just as it does to rig the World Cup selection process so that Saudi Arabia gets the 2034 World Cup with no competition. This is what FIFA is best at. Not running some of the most important and visible soccer tournaments in history, and not ensuring that soccer is truly for everyone around the world. No, FIFA is best at making itself as monolithic as possible while raking in billions of dollars along the way.
A more principled organization—allow me to pause briefly so that everyone can have a good laugh at that concept—might stand up to Trump and his racist and xenophobic rhetoric, which stands in direct conflict with soccer's true values, ones that shine through even in a goofy and greedy little tournament like this. But FIFA has never been that kind of organization. It's a feature, not a bug, that FIFA would prioritize this government over the people it is meant to serve and uplift. And it will only get more brazen ahead of next summer's World Cup, a tournament people actually care about that might end up ruined by FIFA being FIFA.
