2026 World Cup: Leveraging football’s global reach to advance human rights

Major sporting events bring global attention – and with it, renewed scrutiny of the human rights risks they can carry. Ahead of this year’s FIFA World Cup tournament, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have raised concerns over immigration enforcement, media freedom, and discrimination affecting LGBTQ+ players and fans travelling to host cities.

These concerns echo those documented after the 2022 World Cup.

Fundación para la Democracia Internacional – a civil society member of our TrustLaw pro bono network – produced a report estimating that over 14,500 migrant workers died between 2010 and 2022 in connection with World Cup infrastructure – with the true figure potentially higher.

See our film on extreme heat and human rights risks at the 2022 World Cup below:

Against this backdrop, TrustLaw members working at the intersection of sport and social justice are advancing their missions during a period of heightened global attention.

TrustLaw member Agape – a Mexican non-profit – is drawing attention to gender violence and human trafficking through its Break the Game campaign. This initiative raises awareness of how the mass mobility, tourism, and night economy of major sporting events such as the World Cup create ideal conditions for human trafficking and gender violence to thrive.

TrustLaw facilitated legal support to develop the campaign’s website terms and conditions and protect its intellectual property.

Chilean non-profit Fútbol Más helps to empower children from vulnerable communities through its football programmes, which aim to promote inclusivity and mental wellbeing . They recently won the Laureus Sport for Good Award 2026, which honours their significant contribution to transforming the lives of children and young people through sport.

A TrustLaw member for over 10 years, Fútbol Más have been able to strengthen their operations and are now preparing for global expansion, underscoring the role legal support plays in supporting organisational resilience and sustainability.

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Half of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) surveyed in our recent report said their legal needs had increased over the past year. With civic space shrinking and legal pressures on CSOs intensifying, pro bono legal support is increasingly essential, not just for compliance, but for protecting the advocacy work these organisations were built to do.

TrustLaw is the largest pro bono network in the world and provides legal support to over 7,000 CSOs from across the globe.

If you’re an organisation working on human rights, gender justice, or civic space, TrustLaw provides free legal support to CSOs in almost 200 countries.