The curtain was officially brought down on the FIFA World Cup 2026 last Sunday on the 19th of July after the final match between Spain and Argentina where Spain won the match and became WC Champions scoring 1-0 against the Argentines. Historically, the FIFA WC tournaments have been debatable as it was never about only 90-minute football matches. Things worked beyond the curtains of entertainment. It’s helped shape the cultural, political, economical, ideological, religious and diplomatic identities of different countries. For example, the win of Italy in the 1934 WC with the influence of the fascist leader Benito Mussolini is recorded in history, the 1978 Argentina World Cup also played a role in covering Argentina’s dirty war of disappearing people and this 2026 WC has also got numerous rumors and debates about whether FIFA was actually fair to everyone or favored a specific team like Argentina. But regardless of all the instances of corruption, it continues to become the largest gaming show in the world and the revenue it generates is more than the GDP of so many countries actually, for example, 15 billion USD in this tournament. But the real question is- Is humanity really desensitizing against the human sufferings and wars that are going on focusing on the entertainment part more?

The world cup shapes the politics, economy and diplomacy of the host countries, the champion countries, the FIFA and so on. In 2022 Qatar WC, Qatar spent about 220 billion USD in building different infrastructure to ultimately host the WC. The FIFA generated revenues of about 6.31 billion USD in the tournament which more than doubled in this year’s tournament. Countries fight harder to host than to win actually. As the significant role it plays in soft power politics, the amount of revenues it generates and the way it represents the host nations’ culture, politics and ideological views actually mean a lot for the countries. 

Religious views are also pushed in it in a very soft and political way. For example, the final match between Argentina and Spain was almost a silent representation of the Israel vs Palestine war as the PM of Argentina is a pro Zionist leader and the PM of Spain is a pro Palestine leader who is against the crimes against humanity that are taking place in Palestine and South Africa.

Countries try to push in their religious and cultural views softly yet firmly through this game. For example, in the Qatar WC 2022, the world saw a more modest version of this event as it represented the Muslim culture unlike this year’s tournament. It represented Muslim ideology- Adan was heard across the fan zone during the matches, also there were instructions of following moderate dress codes. 

So it is such a big of an event and it circulates the economy related to it significantly and attracts the focus of billions also. The 2026 FIFA World Cup is estimated to have reached approximately 5 billion people worldwide through direct viewing, highlights, news coverage and social media. This denotes the fact that two out of every three people in the world were connected to it. It holds that much significance. But it takes us back to the question- Is it desensitizing us against the crimes against humanity? Why can such a gaming event attract millions of people and not the wars that are taking place around the world illegally and killing lots of innocent people, making the civilians leave their own lands just to suffer most inhumanely and taking them as hostages to torture and oppress even more like what the Israel is doing to the palestinians? 

The world can also shift their focus a little bit towards these sufferers, act and resist together against these big shot criminals making them stop committing these crimes against humanity. While the footballers are scoring a goal and the fans are cheering and celebrating, forces under those criminal leaders like the Israeli PM Netanyahu are killing some innocent children and civilians bombarding their living places in Palestine for no valid, legal reason. It does not imply we can not watch football and if we stop watching football, these crimes will be stopped. No, as discussed in previous paragraphs, this sort of international events contribute to the global economy significantly. So the solution is not to stop watching football as a medium of entertainment. Perhaps, the world can try and shift its focus towards these people and resist the criminals a bit to possibly or impossibly end their sufferings and enjoy their basic human rights and live peacefully.