Photo above: Organisers from Reclaim the Game take control of a street for a football free from FIFA. Credit: Reclaim the Game
By: Priyansh
On the opening matchday of the 2026 FIFA World Cup in Toronto, it was a noisy downtown. While any resident in the area would tell you bursts of blaring sounds is part of their lives, the volume was raised by a few decibels for Canada’s first group game against Bosnia-Herzegovina. As expected, mainstream media accounts focused on the sounds that indicated excitement and anticipation. Yet, amid this attempted sanitisation, discordant voices were making themselves heard.
The tone for the day was set early. The morning began with a reminder of the genocide in Palestine that looms large over this event as FIFA refuses to sanction Israel in a meaningful way. As cars zoomed across Lake Shore Boulevard, a group of activists laid down a banner that urged the global body to act – ‘Kick Israel out of FIFA’.
As the morning progressed, I stepped out of my house in the direction of the stadium. It was still 11am, four hours before kickoff, when I encountered another set of voices fighting for justice. As I made my way past the western edge of Queen’s Park, a group of workers from the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 2722 came into view. Despite the sweltering weather, they were in good spirits with upbeat music streaming from their large speaker. A member of the union approached me to sign a letter against their employer Oxfam, which has refused to provide fair compensation, inclusive workplace protections, trans-affirming care, and support for domestic violence survivors. While the agitating union members did not have much to say about the World Cup or FIFA, it was hard not to miss the irony. Oxfam’s lofty vision for combatting inequality in the world was being directly challenged by the workers. Another global body came to mind. The contradiction was instantly recognisable as I recalled FIFA’s incessantly-repeated message – ‘Football Unites the World’. Anything but!
An hour or so later, the fans of Bosnia-Herzegovina began their march to the stadium. They were present in substantial numbers, delighted to mark the occasion of only their country’s second appearance at the FIFA World Cup tournament. But that was not the only thing on their mind. The memory of the Bosnian genocide is still fresh for this relatively young nation. The historical experience of ethnic cleansing, after all, is barely 30 years old. So it is not a surprise to see that for Bosnian immigrants in Canada, and the country’s citizens, the ongoing genocide in Palestine is an urgent issue. Walking to the Toronto Stadium, the Bosnian fans were keen to express their solidarity with Palestinians. The clips of the ‘Palestina’ chant from Friday were an addition to the archive of Bosnian fans refusing to forget the horrors of the ongoing violence. They simply would not let this party organised by FIFA – the tournament – to drown out the voices of those who speak out against the genocide.
Finally, as the game kicked off, I made my way to the intersection of Queen and Gwynne Street, a mile north of the Toronto Stadium. A number of organisers in the city had gathered there to draw attention to the wanton misuse of public funds, the expansion of surveillance technologies and aggressive policing in the city, FIFA’s active involvement in expanding Donald Trump’s fascist agenda, and the Gianni Infantino-led body’s continued inaction on Israel’s contravention of the football body’s own statutes.
Despite the temperature exceeding 30 degrees, the organisers remained steadfast in their desire to take ownership of public space, especially since FIFA has been given carte blanche by the City of Toronto to control the area within two kilometers of the stadium. This ‘controlled area’ (or exclusion zone) amounts to a sanctuary for FIFA’s corporate sponsors, and restricted movement and access for Toronto’s citizens. The organisers were able to hand out resources and information to passers-by while creating space for street football until about 4pm. It was then that, with the second half of the Canada-Bosnia game starting, two police officers arrived on their bikes to hassle the peacefully demonstrating group. The organisers’ offence? Engaging in the democratic right of free expression and creating the space for pick-up football which had attracted people of all ages. Bid documents for the World Cup often make a big deal of this very mission, boasting that organising the tournament will grow the popularity of football in host cities. Turns out that when residents take World Cup promoters at their word, the police are keen to push them aside and ruin the joy of football.
As Captain Marcos of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) reminded us recently, “it is to be expected that the most important thing about this World Cup will happen outside the stadiums, in the streets and in the fields, on the coasts and in the mountains, where what will be celebrated is not the spectacle, but memory and struggle, resistance and rebellion.” This is how members of Reclaim the Game, Bosnian fans, workers of CUPE Local 2722, and other activists in Toronto are responding to the moment. WIth five more match days to go in the city, they will keep trying to raise their voices above the cacophony of the FIFA spectacle.