A coalition of human rights groups raised concerns on Thursday over FIFA’s decision to cancel “anti-racism and anti-discrimination messaging” in the lead-up to the 2026 Men’s World Cup in the US, Canada and Mexico. The statement followed a report by the New York Times‘ The Athletic blog revealing that FIFA has not displayed anti-racist or anti-discrimination messaging in stadiums at the 2025 Club World Cup in the US, despite having done so at the 2022 Men’s World Cup and 2023 Women’s World Cup.

The Dignity 2026 Coalition, a group of 15 human rights organizations, was formed to raise awareness of human rights issues related to the upcoming World Cup and advocate for affected communities. The coalition called for FIFA to publish its reasons for its change of position and “reinstate all planned messaging.” It has also called for the publication and implementation of its Human Rights Framework.

FIFA has been engaged in multiple anti-discrimination initiatives, including anti-racism announcements before matches, a social media protection service against online hate speech, and the No Discrimination campaign, which “aims to rid the football world of discrimination in any and every form.” Sources suggest that promotional materials were developed for the 2025 Club World Cup but were not used (with the exception of June 18, the International Day for Countering Hate Speech). FIFA has not addressed its reasons for not implementing this messaging at every match, stating to The Athletic that “FIFA has a firm, zero-tolerance stance against all forms of discrimination and racism.”

Minky Worden, director of global initiatives at Human Rights Watch, said that “any cancelation of FIFA’s well-established campaigns to eradicate hateful actions in sport is an inexplicable and inexcusable step backward.”

FIFA has previously been criticized for the proliferation of human rights abuses leading up to the Qatar World Cup in 2022, which was linked to the deaths of migrant workers. An independent report commissioned by FIFA found that “severe human rights impacts did ultimately occur in Qatar from 2010 through 2022.” FIFA rejected the report’s recommendation to compensate the workers.