Only days ago, football invited us to believe that the World Cup’s greatest gift lies beyond victory itself. The tournament’s magic has never resided solely in identifying the strongest team. It has lived in its ability to persuade billions of people, however briefly, that they belong to a shared human spectacle larger than borders and ideologies. Yet the road to the 2026 World Cup has offered an uncomfortable reminder that such moments of togetherness rest on political foundations that can no longer be taken for granted. For decades, the World Cup functioned as a temporary republic of football.

Military dictatorships, Cold War rivalries and diplomatic disputes intruded upon the tournament, but they rarely displaced its central premise: those who qualified to participate would be welcomed into a common space governed by the rules of the game. For one month, the authority of the tournament appeared to transcend the calculations of the state. That assumption is now under strain. The irony is difficult to miss. At a time when the tournament has expanded to include more nations than ever before, the practical barriers to participation appear to be growing. Football’s promise of........

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