Children’s rights and the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup: navigating legal divergence and sporting convergence

Over the past decade, growing demands for transparency, good governance, and human rights have prompted reforms in global football. Accordingly, FIFA revised its bidding process for the 2026 Men’s World Cup, incorporating references to universal human rights standards. However, awarding the tournament to the United States, Canada, and Mexico, countries with divergent commitments to international human rights law expose legal and normative tensions. This article examines the role of the international human rights system within FIFA, focusing on the United States’ failure to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989). This omission creates gaps in the universalism of human rights and children’s rights protections. The article argues that FIFA, operating within a neoliberal and globalized framework, lacks the commitment and will to resolve such inconsistencies. It concludes that FIFA must adopt a coherent, rights-based approach to ensure equal protection for all children across host jurisdictions.