![\"Cape](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1781753173_884_61381d53-7ebd-4dbf-a43b-01fd034ac545.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\nThe 2026 FIFA World Cup is underway, and with dozens of national teams competing in 16 cities across three countries for soccer’s ultimate prize, there should be no shortage of drama on and off the pitch.<\/p>\n
And there’s already been plenty \u2014 most of it involving red cards, referees, ticket prices and visas.<\/p>\n
Below, catch up on some of the biggest controversies of the quadrennial tournament, which runs through July 19.<\/p>\n
Cape Verde goalie’s mother, who missed his 1st match due to visa issues, will attend the next one after U.S. congressman intervenes<\/p>\n
Cape Verde’s Vozinha during the team’s World Cup match against Spain on Monday.<\/p>\n
(SOPA Images via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Cape Verde’s goalkeeper Josimar Jos\u00e9 \u00c9vora Dias, who goes by the nickname Vozinha, made seven saves in a stunning 0-0 draw against Spain on Monday in the West African archipelago’s first-ever men’s World Cup appearance. But he said his mother, Evora, couldn’t attend the match in Atlanta due to U.S. visa complications.<\/p>\n
The 40-year-old broke down in tears<\/a> on the soccer pitch after the game, hugging his teammates.<\/p>\n “I cried because I grew up with my grandparents, and unfortunately they are not here, they died a few years before and they give everything for me, for my life,” Vozinha told reporters<\/a>. “And also because my mom, she didn’t manage to be here because of the money you have to pay for the visa, we didn’t manage on time, and I would like her to be here.”<\/p>\n U.S. officials said on Wednesday that Evora’s visa fees have been waived and that travel arrangements are being made so she can see her son compete in Cape Verde’s next match against Uruguay on Sunday in Miami.<\/p>\n In a statement<\/a>, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said that he was moved by Vozinha’s story and worked with Secretary of State Marco Rubio to resolve her visa issues.<\/p>\n “No mother should miss the chance to see her child make history,” Jeffries said.<\/p>\n Canada denies entry for Ghana player facing rape charges Thomas Partey of Ghana reacts during a match against Wales in Cardiff on June 2.<\/p>\n (Ryan Hiscott via Getty Images)<\/p>\n A Canadian federal judge has rejected<\/a> Ghana’s appeal to allow midfielder Thomas Partey into the country while he awaits trial on rape charges \u2014 which means he will miss the team’s opening match against Panama in Toronto on Wednesday.<\/p>\n According to the Athletic<\/a>, Partey falsely claimed on his visa application that he was not facing criminal charges. The application was denied last week. The appeal was denied on Tuesday.<\/p>\n Partey has been charged with seven counts of rape and one count of sexual assault involving multiple women in Britain, where he played for Arsenal from 2020 to 2025. He has pleaded not guilty.<\/p>\n His lawyer argued that Canada, as a World Cup host nation, had a “public interest” in allowing the “orderly participation of accredited national team athletes.”<\/p>\n In a statement submitted to the court, Partey said: “I have not been convicted of any offense. I have pleaded not guilty, and I remain presumed innocent.”<\/p>\n Ghana has been practicing for the World Cup in Rhode Island. Partey will remain there and is eligible to play in Ghana’s next two matches, both in the United States: June 23 vs. England in Foxboro, Mass., and June 27 against Croatia in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n Aussie ref denies making ‘white power’ hand gesture Shaun Evans poses during the official FIFA World Cup 2026 portrait session in Miami on June 6.<\/p>\n (Carmen Mandato – FIFA\/FIFA via Getty Images)<\/p>\n An Australian referee had to deny flashing a white nationalist symbol<\/a> during the television broadcast of Sunday’s match between Germany and Cura\u00e7ao.<\/p>\n The official, Shaun Evans, was serving as one of the video assistant referees at the World Cup broadcast center in Dallas.<\/p>\n When cameras cut to Evans, he formed a circle with his thumb and index finger while extending the rest of his fingers. The hand gesture, which looks like an upside-down “OK,” has been co-opted by white supremacist groups, according to the Anti-Defamation League<\/a>, which designated it a hate symbol in 2019.<\/p>\n The Athletic reported<\/a> that Fare, a group that monitors racist and discriminatory chants, accused Evans of “intentionally transmitting a far-right neo-Nazi symbol” and called on FIFA to intervene. “Clearly this official should have no further role to play in this World Cup,” the group said.<\/p>\n After a subsequent investigation, FIFA said it found “no evidence of breaches of the FIFA Disciplinary Code.”<\/p>\n Evans said in a statement it was an “involuntary twitch.”<\/p>\n “I did not intentionally make a hand gesture or symbol to communicate a message, affiliation, game or belief of any kind,” he said. “The only explanation I can offer is that the movement was an involuntary, subconscious twitch and I was unaware I had done it at the time. Images taken later during the match showed that I repeated this movement many times while holding a pen between my fingers.”<\/p>\n Iran coach says team ordered to leave U.S. after match Iran’s Mehdi Taremi and Ramin Rezaeian celebrate a goal in their match against New Zealand on June 15.<\/p>\n (Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)<\/p>\n Iran’s head coach said his team was ordered to board a plane to Mexico minutes after drawing 2\u20132 with New Zealand and that he believes his team is “the most oppressed in the World Cup.”<\/p>\n Iran’s World Cup cycle has been in upheaval since the United States and Israel began a war against Iran on Feb. 28.<\/p>\n The team’s head coach, Amir Ghalenoei, said they had expected to spend Monday night in California to maximize the normal recovery process after their opening game, only to be told after the match that everyone had to immediately board a plane for the 140-mile trip back to Tijuana.<\/p>\n “They didn’t even give us time to recover,” Ghalenoei said through an interpreter during a press conference after the match. “After the game today, they said to us, ‘You have to leave immediately.’ It’s very important for us to have time to recover, but we were asked to get on a plane and return to our camp in Tijuana, and we are really troubled by that.”<\/p>\n Prior to the tournament, the Iranian football federation \u200cmoved the team’s base camp from Arizona to Mexico amid uncertainty over U.S. visas during the Iran war, Iran’s ambassador to Mexico \u200btold Reuters.<\/p>\n The Department for Homeland Security told Yahoo that “the Iranian National Football Team agreed to these terms.”<\/p>\n “The team will be allowed to come in match day minus one, so the day before the match. They’ll be asked to leave the day that the match wraps up, so the evening of the match. The President wants to make sure that we’re talking about what actually happens on the pitch. A lot of that is making sure that things are safe and secure, not just around the stadiums, but around base camps and training sites.”<\/p>\n Iran fans display flags to protest Tehran despite FIFA ban The prerevolutionary flag on display before the match between Iran and New Zealand on June 15.<\/p>\n (AP Photo\/Mark J. Terrill)<\/p>\n The postgame attention of Monday’s match between Iran and New Zealand has also focused on the politically charged atmosphere at the Los Angeles stadium.<\/p>\n Among those in the crowd were Iranian fans cheering on their team, while others signaled opposition, as they view the World Cup team as a proxy for the Iranian government. They protested by holding up prerevolutionary flags featuring the lion-and-sun emblem that were used before 1979 and are viewed as a symbol of protest against the current Iranian government.<\/p>\n Others showed opposition by cheering on New Zealand and booing their own side. Despite FIFA’s efforts to restrict flags and apparel it deems political or offensive, fans still passed through stadium security without any issues. Outside the stadium, several hundred waved anti-Iranian flags and signs or destroyed the current Iranian flag.<\/p>\n Opening match sees most red cards in 20 years Mexico’s players protest after Montes was given a red card.<\/p>\n (Kai Pfaffenbach\/Reuters)<\/p>\n The 2026 World Cup stirred controversy in the tournament’s opening match between South Africa and Mexico in Mexico City, as three players were sent off after receiving red cards<\/a>.<\/p>\n By rule, those players \u2014 South Africa’s Sphephelo Sithole and Themba Zwane and Mexico’s C\u00e9sar Montes \u2014 will be suspended for their next matches.<\/p>\n It was the most red cards handed out in a World Cup match since 2006, when a record four players were ejected in what became known as the Battle of Nuremberg between Portugal and the Netherlands.<\/p>\n At the last World Cup in Qatar in 2022, only four red cards were issued in the entire tournament.<\/p>\n Somali referee denied entry into the United States Omar Artan greets fans in Mogadishu, Somalia, on June 10 after he was denied entry to the U.S.<\/p>\n (Abuukar Mohamed Muhidin\/Anadolu via Getty Images))<\/p>\n Omar Artan, a Somalian referee, was denied entry into the United States after being stopped upon arrival at Miami International Airport by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which determined that Artan was “inadmissible due to vetting concerns.”<\/p>\n According to Yahoo Sports<\/a>, a U.S. official said Artan was not allowed in the country due to “association with suspected members of terror organizations.”<\/p>\n Somalia is one of nearly 40 countries whose citizens are restricted from entering the United States as part of the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration.<\/p>\n Artan told the New York Times<\/a> that he had “the right visa” and was “very, very disappointed.”<\/p>\n “I’m just simply a referee who’s trying to live his dream, the biggest dream of my life, to come to the World Cup,” he said.<\/p>\n Artan has since returned to the Somali capital, Mogadishu, where he was greeted by thousands of supporters<\/a> at a stadium. He has vowed to work the next World Cup, which is set to be held in Spain, Portugal and Morocco in 2030.<\/p>\n FIFA blames empty seats on fans who left them to watch from the concourses Empty seats during the match between Qatar and Switzerland near San Francisco on June 13.<\/p>\n (Doug Zimmerman\/ISI Photos\/ISI Photos via Getty Images)<\/p>\n Despite record-high prices, World Cup tickets are in high demand. But not all matches have sold out.<\/p>\n During the tournament’s first week, viral images showed swaths of empty seats<\/a> at a match between South Korea and the Czech Republic in Guadalajara, Mexico, prompting FIFA to issue a statement saying that it was actually a near-sellout and that some fans were “standing in concourses rather than staying in their assigned seats throughout the match.”<\/p>\n “Official attendance figures reflect the number of tickets scanned and spectators present within the stadium footprint, rather than visual assessments of seating occupancy at any given moment during the match,” FIFA said in its statement.<\/p>\n Swaths of empty seats were also reported in the matches between Switzerland and Qatar and between Japan and the Netherlands, during which the Athletic<\/a> reported that volunteers had to step in to fill empty seats.<\/p>\n The organization said that it has sold more than 6 million tickets for the World Cup.<\/p>\n When they went on sale last fall, the cheapest tickets for group-stage games were priced at $140, up from $69 at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.<\/p>\n![\"Thomas](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1781753173_35_60d473a4-1855-4cf5-bebc-db1c8da0a3ca.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n![\"Shaun](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1781753174_437_gettyimages-2280391098_0835.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n![\"Iran's](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1781753174_857_c10c2448-c80a-4dab-b631-b068644d0c51.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1781753175_352_2ddca5b5-418c-4862-be15-f6b74ebdd0b6.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n![\"Mexico's](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1781753176_426_2026-06-11t210058z-1896655889-up1em6b1mdkw7-rtrmadp-3-soccer-worldcup-mex-zaf_6172.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\n![\"Omar](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1781753176_47_gettyimages-2280264146_5440.jpg\"\/)
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