World Cup integrity questioned as FIFA told to protect 2030 tournament from ‘crisis’ and ‘money and power’
The integrity of the World Cup has been called into question by Europe’s top human rights body, in an open letter that urges FIFA to build a stronger framework for the 2030 tournament.
Swiss politician Alain Berset, who serves as the head of the Council of Europe, highlighted the unprecedented decision to suspend a ban for United States star Folarin Balugun while under pressure from Donald Trump, and betting on ‘every pass, every card and every corner’ as the ‘next crisis’ for football.
“A World Cup final is a celebration few events on Earth can rival. This one feels unfinished,” Berset wrote Sunday, in a scathing message published hours before Spain beat Argentina at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
“The FIFA World Cup 2026 has raised question after question.
“A sanction suspended under pressure, within days, with no reasons given. The authority of referees called into question. Racist abuse of players, some of it from elected officials. Betting on every pass, every card, every corner.
“The celebration will end tonight. The questions will not. The next crisis has already begun. It has two names: money and power.
“Betting has moved from the result of a match to moments a single player can produce without changing the score.
“A bet won by making others lose. It is an open door to fraud. And this World Cup has opened the door wider. For the first time, FIFA welcomed a prediction market as an official partner, inside the stadiums themselves.
“Political influence has also moved onto the field. The sanction suspended mid-tournament came after a head of state called the president of FIFA. When the rules bend under pressure, every result is open to doubt.”
Berset went on to offer a proposal to FIFA, having publicly aired the Council of Europe’s concerns despite a formal working agreement signed in 2018 by Gianni Infantino between the two parties.
Europe’s top human rights body offers ‘proposal’ to FIFA ahead of 2030 World Cup
He continued: “Here is my proposal to FIFA: a third half. A working dialogue that starts tonight, to build the integrity framework of the 2030 World Cup before it is played.
“The Council of Europe has been here before.
“When thirty-nine people never came home from Heysel Stadium in 1985, the Council of Europe and its member states responded within three months with a binding treaty to keep spectators safe, since strengthened into today’s Council of Europe Convention on an Integrated Safety, Security and Service Approach at Football Matches and Other Sports Events. Thirty-nine states have signed it.
“When doping poisoned athletics, we wrote the Council of Europe Anti-Doping Convention, now binding on fifty-two states.
“When match-fixing reached European leagues, we adopted the Council of Europe Convention on the Manipulation of Sports Competitions, signed by forty-three states and still the only binding treaty against the rigging of games.
“Each time, the Council of Europe answered with law. It brings binding conventions, forty-six member states, and four decades of turning sport’s crises into sport’s rules.
“Tonight, the final whistle will end the tournament. Let it also open the third half and the urgent work of strengthening the integrity of sport.”
The next World Cup will be staged mostly in Europe, with games hosted in Portugal and by newly-crowed champions Spain.
Morocco is also co-hosting, while three South American nations, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, are scheduled to host one game each at the start of the centenary edition to mark the original 1930 World Cup host Uruguay.
FIFA members endorse Infantino for fourth term despite scandal
Infantino, who has been at the heart of the Balogun affair that dominated headlines around this summer’s tournament, has served as FIFA’s president for the past decade.
It was reported ahead of Sunday’s World Cup final that he has the formal endorsement of more than 200 Fifa members for re-election, and is on course to be voted into a fourth term by a landslide at its congress in March.
The Guardian reports it would take a ‘political earthquake’ to dislodge Infantino from his position, despite the backlash around Balogun’s suspended ban.
If re-elected as expected, Infantino would preside over the 2030 World Cup, and would be charged with avoiding what the Council of Europe has described as a ‘crisis’.
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