The Key is a new magazine committed to covering Palestine as the core issue at the heart of the modern world. Support our work by becoming a subscriber today.
Even before a single ball was kicked, the 2026 edition of the FIFA World Cup was on course to become one of the most politicized in the competition’s storied history. As the main host nation, the United States extended its hostile and exclusionary immigration policies to World Cup fans, officials, and team delegations, most notably Iran – a participating nation against which President Donald Trump’s administration had recently launched a war of aggression. All the while, FIFA’s senior leadership would play its part dutifully, running interference for one scandal after another while prioritizing record profits through its “dynamic” ticket pricing, stadium bans on bottled water, and the surge in television ad revenues courtesy of its newly mandated hydration breaks.
