On Sunday, July 19, the FIFA World Cup Final gathered thousands of fans at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. Many were there with another idea in mind. Some fans intended to protest President Trump’s presence at the game through referee-style red cards when Trump presented the trophy to the winning team.
The initiative was called “The Final Red Card” and was led by the organization SoundsGood. They are the ones who organized the nationally covered Flags in the Stands: ICE OUT activation during Super Bowl LX.
The protest was meant to highlight scrutiny surrounding the relationship between FIFA President Gianni Infantino and President Donald Trump, as well as the concern over recent fatal immigration enforcement incidents, deaths in ICE custody, and intensified immigration operations affecting communities across the country.
For the World Cup, they worked with other organizations such as Contra-ICE, Make the Road New Jersey, 50501, People vs. The Machine, South Asians for America, Way to Win, Movement Voter Project, and more.
The Co-founder of SoundsGood Presents, Caleb Wilson, said, “We’ve watched a lot of red cards be issued and scrutinized over the course of this tournament. The Final Red Card gives the fans a chance to present the last one — no VAR required. And that’s exactly what we love to do as a campaign activation studio — take a moment the whole world is already watching and hand the crowd a way to collectively speak that doesn’t co-opt the game.” Wilson continued, “FIFA and Trump wanted July 19th to be a coronation. We’re empowering fans to make it a verdict instead: authoritarianism and corruption have no place on the pitch. Unitas Mundi — fútbol unites the world; corruption destroys it.”
On the back of the red cards was a QR Code that linked to The Final Red Card’s website. The website shows the campaign’s message, artwork, and looks to examine the intersection of corruption in sport and public life, as well as the growing convergence between FIFA leadership and political power. Ultimately, it aims to get across the human consequences of escalating immigration enforcement across the United States.
According to NJ.com, these plans were thwarted as security seized over 10,000 red cards. According to FIFA’s Code of Conduct, section 3.1.24 states “any materials, including but not limited to banners, flags, fliers, apparel and other paraphernalia, that are of a political, offensive, and/or discriminatory nature” are banned.
This, however, happened after the controversy of Argentina players showing a banner on the field which reads “Las Malvinas son Argentinas”, which translates to “The Falklands are Argentine.” According to the New York Times, this is still under investigation by FIFA to determine if it was a political message or not, but there were no punishments dispensed during the World Cup as FIFA is still “assessing match reports.”
Ironically, this was defended by White House’s Executive Director of the World Cup task force, Andrew Giuliani.
In an interview with Sky News, Giuliani said, “We believe in our First Amendment rights here in the United States of America. In terms of the ability and opportunity to be able to make those statements, they have the ability to do that in the United States.”
Ultimately, Spain won the World Cup over Argentina 1-0, leaving no other protest opportunities for this event. But, of course, that does not rule out any protests at sports games in the future.
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