Despite the challenges, football can still unite us
The World Cup shows much of the worst about football - along with much of the best. It may be captured by big business and political agendas, but so long as kids can kick a can in a playground, it remains our game.
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For many of us football has deep-rooted connection and importance in our lives. To some it will be the taste of a pie on a Saturday afternoon, watching and cheering their team on with hundreds or even thousands of fellow supporters. For others it may simply be enjoying playing the game in some capacity, possibly on an uneven playing surface with a scruffy ball that keeps ending up in some angry person’s front garden that requires an unlucky chosen member of the group to sneak in to retrieve it.
It is perhaps its simplicity and its accessibility to so many that has made football what it is today. The game is special because, for much of its history, it has belonged to everyone. Many of those who now play at the very highest level began with very little. Some of the greatest to ever play including Pele, Cristiano Ronaldo, Diego Maradona, came from very humble beginnings. Football has never required wealth, status or privilege to be involved.
Most of us have at least some connection to the sport, be it a favorite player or team or a nostalgic or exciting memory. For me, the 2010 world cup in South Africa are some of my first memories of loving the game. The opening goal scored by ‘Tshabalala’ to put South Africa 1-0 up against Mexico at their home world cup was one of the first times football gave me that feeling that nothing else can replicate. When the World Cup comes around every four years, this nostalgia and these core memories reignite conversations and create excitement amongst so many.
The 2026 World Cup, taking place across the United States, Canada and Mexico, is more than just a football tournament. It is one of the few occasions in fast-paced modern life that feels genuinely connected and shared. Many who would never usually care much for football find themselves entrenched and captivated by the power of football.
Millions of people from different cultures, generations, and political beliefs come together to share something special, reacting in real time to moments of joy, shock, disappointment and disbelief. One goal can create emotion beyond belief and leave lasting memories in a nation for years to come. The World Cup is something that carries real cultural weight, and that is exactly why its direction matters so much.
In a world of increasing individualism and commercial greed, there are growing concerns that football itself is losing some of its connections to the communities who built it. What we are seeing at this World Cup has also exposed some of the contradictions at the heart of modern football’s promise of a shared humanity. With issues over immigration policy, costs to the fans and torturous temperatures, the World Cup has created controversy amongst fans globally.
One of the clearest signs of football’s shift towards a more commercial, market-driven model is how tickets are now priced and sold. Rather than fixed, accessible pricing, FIFA has moved towards a ‘dynamic pricing’ system where costs fluctuate depending on demand, turning access into something shaped by the market.
As a result, prices for major matches have risen to levels far beyond the reach of most. The scale of that shift is evidently stark: the most expensive FIFA-issued ticket for the 2022 final between Argentina and France was $1,604, whereas this summer some tickets to the final have reportedly reached as high as $32,970.
“For all the concerns about how the modern game is packaged and consumed, there remains an undeniable truth: football still belongs, in the deepest sense, to the people that built it”
In some host cities, including San Francisco, matches are scheduled to take place up to 40 miles outside of the city itself, raising further questions about accessibility, and whether fans will even be able to meaningfully engage with the event itself.
These concerns are not unique to this tournament alone, but rather follow a pattern seen in previous World Cups, where the demands of commercial expansion often outweigh the needs of those attending in person. More troubling still are the barriers faced by those from countries with historically high visa rejection rates, with citizens from 11 out of the 48 countries that qualified for the World Cup seeing rejection rates higher than 40% (primarily African and Asian countries), effectively shutting out many of the very supporters who have helped make football the global game that it is today.
Even highly ranked and specially selected Somali referee Omar Artan was rejected by immigration services at Miami airport due to U.S. immigration policy being heavily restrictive on Somali citizens entering the country. When asked about Omar Artain, the FIFA president replied to football fans by telling them to “chill and relax”. At a tournament which is meant to symbolise inclusion and unity, realities of this nature risk losing some of the connection that the World Cup brings to the very people that make it so special.
It is obvious from last December's World Cup draw event that the game is being increasingly influenced by image, politics, and ‘sportswashing’ rather than by a genuine desire to showcase the best football has to offer. The reported inclusion of political recognition, including the awarding of a ‘FIFA peace prize’ to U.S. president Donald Trump, prompted strong reactions from viewers around the world, with many publicly expressing discomfort at what it represented.
Despite the real intentions of countries paying hundreds of millions to host the World Cup, football fans around the globe are starting to connect the dots and draw their own conclusions about what could be happening to the game. But fans are not powerless actors in these affairs.
Evidence of this can be seen in the announcement of a European ‘Superleague’ in April of 2021 which caused an eruption of protests from fans. The result of this led to the plans being stripped back within 48 hours of the announcement. The game (just about) still belongs to the people and although we are seeing changes in how it is being used for gains and image, what it means to each and every person will always carry weight.
As Scottish football legend Jock Stein once said, “Football is nothing without fans”. And it is this truth that inspires me to believe that football and the World Cup will never lose what made it powerful in the first place. For all the concerns about how the modern game is packaged and consumed, there remains an undeniable truth: football still belongs, in the deepest sense, to the people that built it.