World Cup Integrity Questioned by European Rights Body Urging FIFA to Help Protect 2030 tournament

GENEVA (AP) — Europe's top human rights body questioned the integrity of the World Cup and urged FIFA on Sunday to help build a stronger framework for the 2030 edition being played mostly in Spain and Portugal.

"The next crisis has already begun. It has two names: money and power," the head of the 46-nation Council of Europe wrote Sunday in an open letter to its formal working partner FIFA hours before the final between Spain and Argentina in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

Swiss politician Alain Berset cited FIFA suspending a ban for United States forward Folarin Balugun while under pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump and the risk of fraud in the soccer body signing a prediction market as a World Cup sponsor.

"When the rules bend under pressure, every result is open to doubt," Berset wrote about Balogun being freed from a mandatory one-game ban to face Belgium with a quarterfinals place at stake. Belgium won 4-1.

"Political influence has also moved onto the field," said Berset, who was twice a president of FIFA's home country Switzerland. "The sanction suspended mid-tournament came after a head of state called the president of FIFA."

FIFA signed a prediction market sponsor deal in April worth a reported $150 million with ADI Predictstreet, one week after the Abu Dhabi-backed company was formally created. FIFA also has other commercial deals with the gambling industry for this World Cup.

Prediction betting has been criticized as rewarding insider trading, and Berset noted that in soccer it allowed wagers to be won on "moments a single player can produce without changing the score."

"It is an open door to fraud," he wrote. "And this World Cup has opened the door wider."

The Council of Europe (CoE) aired its concerns publicly despite having a formal working agreement with FIFA signed by its president Gianni Infantino in 2018.

The inter-governmental body, which created the European Convention on Human Rights, has a stated mission: "To promote democracy, human rights and the rule of law across Europe and beyond."

When signing the FIFA-CoE memorandum of understanding eight years ago, Infantino said: "It is a natural relationship, as we share common values and goals: transparency, accountability, integrity, safety in sport and respect for human rights, for children's rights."

Infantino and Berset met in 2024 on the sidelines of the United Nations general assembly in New York.

FIFA's disciplinary ruling on Balogun was fiercely criticized by European soccer body UEFA, which said the decision "crossed a red line" in soccer's rule of law and transparency. FIFA has yet to publish documents explaining the reasoning of its disciplinary judge from the United Arab Emirates.

"A sanction suspended under pressure, within days, with no reasons given," Berset wrote, before adding other concerns about the first 48-team, 104-game World Cup.

"The authority of referees called into question. Racist abuse of players, some of it from elected officials. Betting on every pass, every card, every corner."

The next men's World Cup will be staged mostly in Europe, with Morocco also co-hosting. Three South American neighbors, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, are currently scheduled to host one game each at the start of the centenary edition in June 2030 to mark the original 1930 World Cup host Uruguay.

"So here is my proposal to FIFA," Berset wrote. "A working dialogue that starts tonight, to build the integrity framework of the 2030 World Cup before it is played."