The 2026 World Cup Not Being the World’s Cup: Investigating the Structural Inequalities of Football (Soccer) Governance
In
Op-Ed Contest Spring 2026
By
Lee Chun Hei
As the FIFA World Cup 2026 commences in North America, this article uses a structural lens to examine how football governance decisions are made. Despite FIFA’s one-member-one-vote system, poorer football associations cannot meaningfully vote against proposals that serve FIFA’s financial interests. Even at times when they vote freely, the options available to them are already predetermined by the metagoverning body whose evaluation criteria favor the rich over the fans.


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