Politics

The great France-Morocco reconciliation faces a World Cup test

Published

1 day ago

July 9, 2026

The newfound harmony between France and Morocco will be tested Thursday night when the two nations clash in the World Cup quarterfinals in Boston.

Relations between Paris and Rabat have rarely been warmer, after President Emmanuel Macron recognized Morocco’s disputed sovereignty plan for Western Sahara in 2024. During a state visit to Rabat that year, Macron hailed a deep connection between the two countries “that stretches back to time immemorial.”

But the propensity of French police to crack down on exuberant football fans, along with recurring violent incidents after big matches involving French teams, and the scorching summer weather baking France all add up to a potential tinderbox across the country.

Due to France’s large Moroccan community — which numbers at least 1.7 million people, according to 2019 data — and the country’s recent difficulties managing post-match celebrations, authorities have put some security precautions in place. The Paris police department has banned flares and fireworks on the night of the match, warning that “numerous incidents of violence occur regularly during the final stages of major soccer tournaments.”

In May, 20,000 people took to the streets to celebrate Paris Saint-Germain’s second straight UEFA Champions League title, leading to unrest and clashes between supporters and police. Far-right chief Jordan Bardella seized on the violence to blame France’s population of immigrant descent.

Asked whether Thursday night’s game carried any particular security risk, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez replied “like any match” during an interview this week on French public television.

Nuñez said police would be “extremely vigilant during the celebrations” regardless of the result but would not automatically move to disperse public gatherings. He added that the same approach had been used for France’s previous matches, while noting that fixtures generally become higher risk as tournaments reach their final stages.

French outlet Le Parisien reported Wednesday evening that in private authorities had compiled a document that noted: “This match presents an increased risk due to its knockout nature and the stakes of qualifying for the semi-finals.”

France and Morocco have shared unusually close ties for decades, shaped by Morocco’s status as a French protectorate from 1912 until its independence in 1956. France remains one of Morocco’s largest trading partners, while security and intelligence cooperation has long been a cornerstone of the relationship — even if political disputes have periodically strained it.

In 2021, media investigations alleged that Moroccan authorities had used Israeli-made Pegasus spyware to target phones belonging to Macron and other French officials. Ties remained frosty after a devastating earthquake struck Morocco in 2023, when Rabat declined France’s offer of aid.

Macron’s Western Sahara gambit in 2024, which aligned France with Spain, the U.S. and dozens of other countries around the world, helped to quell the tensions between the two countries — an important matter for France, which seeks Morocco’s cooperation on topics ranging from trade to migration. Western Sahara is mostly controlled by Morocco, but Rabat’s sovereignty over the territory is not internationally recognized.

The connection between France and Morocco runs all the way to the pitch: France captain Kylian Mbappé and Morocco skipper Achraf Hakimi — former teammates at Paris Saint-Germain — are close friends off the field.

Previous France-Morocco encounters, including in the 2022 World Cup semifinals, led to some arrests but no major public unrest. Morocco’s big games in other competitions, like the African Cup of Nations, have also largely passed off without trouble in France.

A law enforcement official, granted anonymity to speak candidly, said any concerns were more likely to center on possible tensions between Morocco supporters and members of the French-Algerian community, given the diplomatic angst between the North African neighbors.

A center-left parliamentarian, who also spoke to Blue Light News on the condition of anonymity, said they would expect France’s powerful far right — which is leading the race for the French presidency in 2027 — to try to score political points off any unrest that occurs, as they did after the Champions League final. “Morocco, Algeria or any other African country, I don’t think they care about the distinctions,” the lawmaker said.

But what is perhaps most striking about the Paris-Rabat reconciliation is that even the anti-immigrant far right is on board. The French-Moroccan friendship committee in parliament is chaired by Hélène Laporte, a senior member of Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella’s National Rally.

Laporte has said “the relationship between France and Morocco is strong and enduring,” describing it as built on “deep human bonds and a sincere friendship.”

Politics

Why the Olympics won’t have a Balogate

Published

50 minutes ago

July 10, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

President Donald Trump’s call to FIFA President Gianni Infantino urging him to review U.S. striker Folarin Balogun’s red card has thrust the politics of global sport back in the spotlight — and it’s raising questions about how the Olympic movement plans to navigate a White House that has an interventionist approach toward the world’s biggest sporting events.

Trump’s involvement — along with that of other senior administration officials — with the global governing body for soccer highlighted just how deeply FIFA has cultivated its relationship with the White House.

But with Los Angeles set to host the 2028 Summer Olympics, Olympic officials have charted a markedly different course. So far, newly elected IOC President Kirsty Coventry has yet to appear publicly alongside Trump.

While FIFA has been the primary organizer of the 2026 World Cup, the International Olympic Committee will rely on LA28 — the independent local organizing committee — to execute the games.

That structure has allowed the IOC to keep more distance from Washington. Asked in January whether she could learn from Infantino’s approach to courting Trump, Coventry suggested the Olympic movement would take a more measured path.

“If we weren’t seeing good relations six months before the World Cup I would get worried,” she said. “As we get closer to the Olympics you will see the relations continue … and only get stronger.”

For now, the personal relationship with Trump has largely been managed through Casey Wasserman, the chair of LA28, who has emerged as the Olympic movement’s chief interlocutor with the White House.

Wasserman appeared alongside Trump in the Oval Office last year when the president signed an executive order establishing a White House task force focused on the 2028 Games. But it’s a sharp contrast with Infantino’s regular presence at the president’s side, his proclivity for praising the president in public and catering to his ego. After supporting the effort to have the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Trump, Infantino created FIFA’s first-ever Peace Prize and awarded it to the president.

“My understanding of the Casey way is keep your head down, do the work, have your leaders lead the day-to-day, and worry about the most important things to make sure the event is successful, right?” said one person who has worked closely with Wasserman. “It’s not grandstanding and placating the way Gianni has done. It’s just a different approach. Look, maybe it’s just too soon, but he’s not a peace prize-giving kind of guy.”

Behind the scenes, however, cooperation between LA28 and the administration has already begun.

According to people familiar with the discussions, organizers have been working closely with the White House Olympic Task Force on a range of logistical issues, including plans for a pro-am golf tournament at Trump’s Los Angeles-area golf course before the Games.

At the State Department’s request, LA28 has also helped develop a dedicated visa processing portal for Olympic athletes and officials. The system has already been used to facilitate the entry of a small number of LA28 support staff into the United States, according to people familiar with the effort.

As the World Cup has unfolded this month, Trump’s interest in the Olympics has hardly diminished — they are the two events taking place during his second term that he takes credit for bringing to the U.S., based on decisions that were made during his first term.

“The beautiful thing about what I did is I ran [for president again]. I never thought of it, and then all of a sudden I realized, you know, I just got the Olympics, and I totally got that myself, and I just got FIFA,” Trump said on Monday. “I got that myself.”

Politics

Anti-discrimination reports sent to FIFA over Mexico games

Published

1 hour ago

July 10, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The head of FIFA’s anti-discrimination partner — which has dispatched human monitors to every World Cup match so far — said Thursday that the group has submitted “a number of reports regarding matches involving Mexico.”

Piara Powar, executive director of the Fare network, declined in an interview with Blue Light News to say what incidents the reports allege.

But the existence of the reports could spell trouble for the Mexican Football Federation, which has faced a number of sanctions over the past decade from FIFA related to discriminatory practices at its games.

FIFA declined to comment on any specific report Friday, and an inquiry to the Mexican Football Federation’s press inbox went unanswered.

In a statement, the world soccer governing body said “potential incidents are handled by FIFA’s judicial bodies in line with the relevant regulations and match reports, and taking into account the specific circumstances at stake.”

A potential subject included in the reports: Mexican fans repeating an anti-gay chant that has loomed over the national team since it emerged during the 2014 World Cup.

Sometimes referred to as “El Grito,” the chant involves the crowd winding with a prolonged “ehhhhh” as the opposing goalkeeper sets up for a goal kick, followed by a thunderous “puto” as the ball launches upward.

The latter word, which roughly translates to “male prostitute” in Spanish, is listed as a homophobic slur within the global guide to discriminatory practices in soccer authored by the Fare network, an umbrella organization set up to counter discrimination in world soccer.

The chant was audible during broadcasts of Mexico’s last-16 match against England and appeared during the federation’s final group stage tilt against Czechia. The Mexican national team played all of its World Cup matches on home soil, in Mexico City and Guadalajara.

Whether these reports will result in a material penalty is unknown. Powar said that, in most cases, sanctions are announced following the end of the World Cup and are preceded by an investigation and hearings related to the report. Previous punishments have ranged from six-figure fines to forcing the national team to play in front of an empty stadium.

The Mexican federation has unsuccessfully tried to stymie the chant’s popularity. During the 2018 World Cup, Mexican forward Javier Hernandez pleaded with Mexican fans to not invoke it after FIFA announced it was investigating its use during an earlier match.

And ahead of the 2026 tournament, the federation launched a campaignexplicitly encouraging fans to support the team by ditching the chant in favor of a stadium-wide wave — a now unanimous-practice that traces its origins to the 1986 World Cup in Mexico.

Powar said change is still possible.

“It’s not the case that, you know, this culture is fixed or that you can’t change it into a more positive direction, particularly when you’re getting fined the sort of sums the Mexican Federation have over the years,” Powar said.

Politics

For Belgium’s Beltway fans, a rout was the best revenge

Published

2 hours ago

July 10, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Belgium’s sports authorities do not appear to have fully moved past the controversy that shrouded their Round of 16 matchup against the United States, but Belgian fans in Washington have.

Folarin Balogun, the American striker whose red-card punishment was suspended by FIFA just before that game, is now barely top of mind.

“I don’t think it had any impact on the game,” Michael McCusker, a Brussels native, said of FIFA’s decision. “Did it give us the extra push? I don’t know. The USA were terrible.”

The White House lobbied hard for Balogun to play against Belgium. And President Donald Trump took all the credit when FIFA lifted his suspension. The Royal Belgian Football Association, in turn, formally challenged the decision. Fans blasted FIFA’s reversal as politically motivated, arguing the organization had bowed to Trump.

But even with Balogun lining up on Monday, the Belgians made mincemeat of the U.S., never trailing in the match. For Belgium’s Beltway fans, winning seems to have taken care of everything.

“I woke up that morning feeling really good,” Margo Vandenbroucke, a Leuven native who works at the International Monetary Fund. “I walked into work that morning and everyone was clapping for me, for Belgium. I think that was the best way of showing that it didn’t matter.”

But if Belgian supporters abroad have moved on, the Balogun scandal is still alive and well in Brussels. In a letter Wednesday, 72 members of the European Parliament called for an investigation into FIFA President Gianni Infantino — and whether his relationship with Trump played a role in the decision to reverse an on-field disciplinary action.