The Men’s 2026 World Cup, hosted by the USA, Canada and Mexico, kicks off this week in Mexico City. It is set to be the largest in the competition’s history, with 48 teams and 16 host cities. Yet as we arrive at the opening day, the competition has attracted widespread concern and scrutiny of serious human rights issues. From anti-immigration crackdowns to risks of labour exploitation, it is impossible to separate the competition from the problems surrounding it.
In this blog we focus on the modern slavery risk for workers in the run up to and throughout the competition. We look at how workers are impacted, and whether FIFA, related businesses and the tournament’s sponsors are doing enough to prevent exploitation. We also identify lessons from this competition that are applicable to other event supply chains, and the actions needed from business in protecting workers.
Background to the competition
FIFA has faced extensive criticism over recent years for failing to respect human rights or to identify, mitigate and remediate forced labour. The Qatar 2022 Men’s World Cup was characterised by human rights abuses, especially the severe impact to migrant workers. The Guardian reported on the deaths of 6,500 migrant workers in Qatar in the decade after it was awarded the tournament. In addition, the extreme heat, unsafe working conditions and lack of labour protections led to widespread exploitation, injuries and wage theft. Four years later and remediation has been slow, inadequate and inaccessible for many workers.
Structural risks are typically present during mega-sporting events, which bring a huge influx of people and money into host cities and require a vast amount of activity compressed into a short space of time. This includes rapid infrastructure development and the need for a large number of workers to meet the increase in demand. Alongside this, pressures to meet rigid deadlines and respond to this influx lead to an increased risk of exploitation to workers.
Sectors at risk
The sectors most exposed to modern slavery risk include construction, hospitality, cleaning, transportation and private security. These all share a similar profile with large workforces hired rapidly, leading to a highly temporary workforce in these sectors, on low-paid and short-term contracts to meet the rise in demand. The increase in sub-contracting, alongside informal contracts reduce the visibility of working conditions across these sectors. Alongside this there is low likelihood of workers being provided with strong working protects, union representation or trusted and effective grievance mechanisms.
Merchandise also presents risks of modern slavery. The official merchandise associated with a World Cup of this scale includes kits, scarves, balls, and branded goods, are produced through global supply chains that typically involve multiple tiers of manufacturing. Sourcing pressure, price competition and short lead times create the same dynamics that have driven exploitation in the broader sportswear and garment industry for decades. Unofficial and counterfeit merchandise extends these supply chain risks, into an unregulated market with limited protections for workers.
Country context: USA, Canada and Mexico
Amnesty International’s report Humanity Must Win: Defending Rights, Tackling Repression at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, warned that FIFA’s claim that ‘Football Unites the World’ sits in extreme contrast to the divisive and repressive practices of the governments which are hosting the 2026 tournament. This demonstrated in ITUC’ Global Rights Index 2026 which categorises Mexico and Canada as having regular violation of rights with governments and/or companies regularly interfering in collective labour rights. The United States, on the other hand is rated as having systemic violations, ‘in serious efforts to crush the collective voice of workers, putting fundamental rights under threat’.
As part of this, the United States’ ICE immigration enforcement, means that migrant workers are facing a severe threat of deportation. With this heightened risk to migrant workers, and particularly to undocumented workers, they are facing severe risk of exploitation. Migrant workers also have additional barriers in accessing and trusting grievance mechanisms, which makes them less likely to report issues.
Amnesty International has also documented how Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Programme (TFWP), ties workers’ immigration status to a single employer, enables systematic labour exploitation. This includes the risks of unpaid wages, unsafe conditions, physical and sexual abuse, and deportation threats against those who report abuses. Meanwhile, Mexico’s mobilisation of 100,000 security and military personnel, has raised concerns for peaceful protesters.
FIFA’s responsibility
The scale of the men’s World Cup 2026 means that FIFA has a heightened responsibility to respect human rights and assure that it is prevent abuses linked to the tournament. FIFA’s 2017 Human Rights Policy commits the organisation to protecting internationally recognised human rights throughout its operations. In 2021, it embedded human rights criteria into the bidding requirements for future tournaments, and the 2026 hosting bid required commitments to ‘ensure that the hosting and staging of the competition does not involve adverse impacts on internationally recognised human rights.’
However, we know that voluntary commitments need direct action to implement due diligence frameworks, effective grievance mechanisms and safeguards. The ITUC emphasised that the extensive network of contracts for stadium construction, hospitality, and event services in the host cities must be built on a foundation of respect for workers’ rights. The union is clear that without strong, enforceable labour protections, this tournament risks fuelling precarious work, suppressing wages, and denying workers the right to organise.
What businesses need to do
Businesses operating in connection to any sporting events, including sponsors, contractors, hospitality, or merchandise suppliers, have a responsibility to respect workers’ rights. Under the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, companies that benefit from a business relationship may be contributing to abuses through that relationship, even where they are not causing harm directly. Even if events you are involved in are not on the same scale as this World Cup, the tournament highlights the risks that you need to be considering, such as around subcontracting and rapid hiring without due process, as well as the action needed to protect workers.
Sponsors, in particular, carry significant leverage. The 2022 Men’s World Cup in Qatar demonstrated that direct civil society pressure on sponsors can translate into improved conditions for workers. Sponsors need to use contractual influence to demand stronger labour rights standards across their supply chain and take action if those standards are not met.
For all businesses linked to any sporting or other events, it is crucial to map your supply chain and understand the risks to your workforce, including how they are recruited and their conditions of employment. This means going beyond your tier-one suppliers to assess labour providers and subcontractors where the risk is often highest and visibility lowest. Supplier due diligence is crucial throughout the tender and onboarding stage to ensure that providers meet ethical standards. Ongoing monitoring is also essential given the fast paced, compressed and shifting nature of large-scale events.
Businesses must provide accessible, trusted grievance mechanisms through which workers can safely raise concerns. Especially when there are migrant workers in your workforce, those mechanisms need to respond to the specific risks they face, with clear confidentiality and anonymity. Where abuses are identified, businesses have a responsibility to remediate.
Without meaningful structural reforms, the same patterns of exploitation will continue to be repeated at future sporting events. Businesses need to be proactively embedding human rights due diligence, with ongoing monitoring of labour practices, to protect workers, as well as to secure tenders in the future.
CLC is a business and human rights advisory practice specialising in human rights due diligence, responsible sourcing and stakeholder engagement.
Get in touch at eloise@clairelynchconsulting.com
