The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association Calls for Global Boycott of 2026 World Cup in the United States
The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association, a leading international anti-racist organization announced its call for a boycott of the 2026 FIFA World Cup co-hosted by the United States. This decision comes in response to the escalating human rights crisis under the current US administration led by Donald Trump.
For decades, the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association has championed the message ‘Let’s Kick Racism out of the Stadiums’. However, the association believes that the current climate in the US – marked by systematic attacks on immigrant communities, the rollback of civil rights, and the recent threats to peaceful neighbouring states – renders the country an unfit stage for a tournament intended to ‘unite the world’.
According to ‘NEVER AGAIN’, the Trump administration’s aggressive policies targeting refugees and immigrants contradict the fundamental principles of dignity and inclusivity that football should represent. The deployment of militarized law enforcement in host cities and the targeting of vulnerable populations, endangers the safety of fans, particularly those from minority backgrounds. Awarding once again the hosting of a World Cup by FIFA to a regime that actively undermines anti-discrimination efforts serves only to ‘sportswash’ authoritarianism and xenophobia. Recent rhetoric regarding the possible annexation of foreign territories (such as Greenland) highlights a flagrant disregard for international law that the global sporting community must not ignore.
– ‘Football is a powerful tool for peace, but it must not be used as a veil for prejudice’, said Rafal Pankowski, co-founder of the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association and a 2024-25 Rotary Peace Fellow at Makerere University, Kampala. – ‘To participate in this World Cup is to remain silent in the face of rising hate. We call on FIFA, national federations, and fans to stand on the right side of history’.
‘NEVER AGAIN’ calls upon them to withdraw participation or issue formal protests against the host’s human rights record. It has also called upon FIFA to immediately implement binding human rights guarantees and respect the values of human dignity, diversity and fair play.
The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association is an independent anti-racist organization founded in Poland in 1996. It is a founding member of the Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE) network. It has long cooperated with UEFA and FIFA to combat racism and promote multicultural understanding across Europe and the world. Among other things, it coordinated the official UEFA Euro 2012 Social Responsibility Program ‘Respect Diversity – Football Unites’ in Poland and Ukraine.
More information:
www.facebook.com/Respect.Diversity
