The World Cup is meant to be a celebration of football, and FIFA the custodian of the global game.
Squaring that away with how they have conducted and acted in the run-up to this World Cup is becoming increasingly difficult. It started with the obscene decision to award Donald Trump the World Peace Prize, and then continued with how they have gauged ticket prices and hotel costs to such an extent that the US Justice Department has initiated legal proceedings against them.
But now things have taken a turn for the worse with the news that top African referee Omar Abdulkadir Artan, despite being selected to officiate at the tournament, was detained at Miami airport, denied access to the USA and sent back to his country of origin, Somalia.
Meanwhile, members of support staff for the Iranian team have been denied visas, as have a number of their fans, despite buying tickets.
And Swiss striker Breel Embolo has not been able to join up with the rest of his squad because he has his own visa issues owing to a prior legal conviction.
And added to this is the threat that some fans who attend matches will run into officials from the dreaded ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) looking for illegal immigrants.
All of these cases expose a brutal truth.
For all FIFA’s claim to be global, neutral and inclusive, in reality participation still depends on a host country’s sovereign immigration systems.
And for all America’s proud declaration that it is the land of the free, that is looking increasingly hollow with the current incumbent in the White House.
FIFA was widely criticised for awarding the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to authoritarian regimes in Russia and Qatar. But is the USA really much better?
