World Cup 2026 opens amid record carbon footprint, visa barriers, and format upheaval across three host nations
The 2026 FIFA World Cup starts Thursday across the United States, Mexico, and Canada, expanded to 48 teams and 39 days, but is already drawing sharp criticism over its environmental cost, restrictive entry policies, and commercial excess.
The 23rd FIFA World Cup begins on 11 June 2026, spread across three host nations for the first time. The tournament has expanded to 48 teams and will last 39 days, a scale that has triggered intense debate before a ball has been kicked.
A record carbon footprint
The event is projected to generate approximately 9 million tonnes of CO₂, roughly double the emissions of the 2022 Qatar World Cup. Transport accounts for an estimated 85% of that total, with teams and fans flying between venues scattered from Boston to Vancouver and Toronto to Mexico City.
FIFA is taking a direction that inevitably increases the carbon footprint of events. We are heading towards gigantism and a volume of spectator and team travel that is the opposite of what we should be doing to maintain a livable climate on the planet.
This estimate excludes what RFI calls the “hidden costs” of the tournament: merchandise, advertising-driven overconsumption, and the sponsorship ecosystem that surrounds the competition.
Visa and ticketing barriers
Fans face what Football Supporters Europe director general Ronan Evain describes as a “leap into the unknown.” High ticket prices, expensive visas, and accommodation costs have made the tournament inaccessible for many. Evain notes that “half the planet cannot enter the United States for financial or security reasons.”
It is a World Cup without rules, unprecedented and unimaginable. FIFA has largely lost control of its tournament. It is not currently able to know how things will unfold.
He points to a recent incident where FIFA banned water bottles in stadiums, then reversed the decision within 36 hours after public and political pressure, as symbolic of the improvisation.
Authoritarian backdrop
Mediapart reports that the authoritarian and discriminatory posture of Donald Trump’s United States is already visible on the eve of the tournament. An expelled referee, a searched team, and interrogated players are cited as examples of the climate surrounding the event, with FIFA’s complicity.
Lukas Aubin, a sports geopolitics specialist at IRIS, draws a parallel between Trump’s “fascistic drift” and the use of sport by historical authoritarian regimes, while noting that modern boycotts have been replaced by on-site political messaging. Iran threatened to boycott the tournament in March during its conflict with the United States before reversing course.
Format and commercial transformation
The tournament introduces cooling breaks at the 23rd and 68th minutes, splitting matches into four periods of roughly twenty minutes each. BFMTV traces the cost for a fan following their team through the competition, calling the bill “exorbitant” and describing FIFA under Gianni Infantino as a “cash machine” operating primarily for its own benefit.
We remain in a governance model that is very vertical, with a president who does more or less what he wants, with very free hands even vis-à-vis his own board, even if it means taking decisions that make no sense.
Les Echos notes that teams such as Jordan, Cape Verde, and Curaçao are participating for the first time, a product of the expanded format that Infantino has championed.
Environmental accountability gap
Le Soir highlights that FIFA’s sustainability announcement does not account for sponsorship, advertising, and broadcasting rights, all of which carry a considerable carbon impact. RFI compares the tournament to SUVs: the bigger it gets, the more it pollutes. The 9 million tonnes of CO₂ estimate is likened to driving one million times around the Earth.
- Iran threatens to boycott the World Cup amid conflict with the United States, later reverses its decision.
- FIFA bans water bottles in stadiums, then reverses the decision within 36 hours after public and political pressure.
- Mediapart reports an expelled referee, a searched team, and interrogated players on the eve of the tournament.
- Opening match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup kicks off in Mexico City.
Fan experience under strain
Evain warns that basic questions remain unresolved hours before kickoff: whether flags from Greenland, Haiti, or LGBTQ symbols will be permitted, or whether MAGA hats and Trump flags will be allowed inside stadiums. The fluctuating rules, he argues, have become a deliberate FIFA strategy rather than a logistical failure.
