Hours before the World Cup final between Spain and Argentina in East Rutherford, New Jersey, the head of the 46-nation Council of Europe published a scathing open letter to FIFA, questioning the integrity of the 2026 World Cup and urging the governing body to build a stronger framework for the 2030 edition.“The next crisis has already begun. It has two names: money and power,” wrote Swiss politician Alain Berset, the Council of Europe’s secretary general.The timing was deliberate and pointed. Berset said the 2026 World Cup had raised “question after question” and promised that while the celebration would end on Sunday night, the questions would not.At the centre of those questions was the Balogun affair. Berset cited FIFA’s decision to suspend a one-game ban for United States forward Folarin Balogun while under pressure from US President Donald Trump, and the risk of fraud arising from FIFA signing a prediction market as an official World Cup sponsor.“When the rules bend under pressure, every result is open to doubt,” Berset wrote. FIFA has yet to publish documents explaining the reasoning of its disciplinary judge from the United Arab Emirates. UEFA had already declared the decision crossed a “red line” in football’s rule of law.Berset also questioned FIFA’s decision to partner with a prediction market, ADI Predictstreet as an official World Cup sponsor, warning that betting had now moved from match results to moments a single player can produce without changing the score, opening the door to a new kind of fraud.The 2026 World Cup was further criticised over racist abuse directed at players and the broader commercialisation of the sport’s biggest event.The Council of Europe aired its concerns publicly despite having a formal working agreement with FIFA signed by Infantino in 2018, a memorandum that committed both organisations to shared values of “transparency, accountability, integrity, safety in sport and respect for human rights.”Berset’s proposal to FIFA was direct: “A working dialogue that starts tonight, to build the integrity framework of the 2030 World Cup before it is played.”
