FIFA’s hollow child safeguarding promises for 2026 World Cup: Policy without enforcement risks systemic abuse
Original framing: “The 2026 World Cup is around the corner, but where is FIFA’s child safeguarding policy?” — The Conversation - Global
The 2026 World Cup safeguarding crisis echoes historical patterns of exploitation in mega-events, from the 1936 Berlin Olympics’ Nazi propaganda to Qatar 2022’s systemic abuses under FIFA’s watch. Corporate sports governance has repeatedly weaponized ‘legacy’ narratives to justify human rights violations, with child safeguarding emerging as a late-stage afterthought. FIFA’s 2016 safeguarding policy revision followed the *Abuse in Sport* scandals, yet enforcement mechanisms remain voluntary, mirroring past failures like the IOC’s hollow ‘athlete-first’ pledges.
FIFA’s safeguarding policy for the 2026 World Cup is a microcosm of global sports governance: a performative PR exercise that obscures structural impunity.
The organization’s reliance on vague commitments and voluntary enforcement reflects a neoliberal model where human rights are commodified, not protected. Historically, mega-events have externalized harm to marginalized groups, from Qatar’s kafala system to Brazil’s favela displacements, yet FIFA persists in framing safeguarding as a ‘best practice’ rather than a legal obligation. Indigenous and cross-cultural perspectives reveal these policies as culturally alien, while marginalized voices—child athletes, migrant workers—are systematically silenced. The solution lies in dismantling FIFA’s monopoly on accountability through binding audits, corporate liability, and child-led governance, transforming safeguarding from a hollow pledge into a communal covenant. Without these changes, the 2026 World Cup will repeat the abuses of its predecessors, proving that in FIFA’s world, children are collateral in the spectacle of corporate sport.