UN on World Football Day
As the 2026 World Cup looms, UN delegations are joined by global football icons to celebrate World Football Day.
United Nations, New York City
Sphinx News: Ahmed Ali
As the world remains paralyzed, shrouded by political polarization, hate, bigotry, war, and endless conflict, the World Cup reminds us of altruism, a reality where differences can be leveraged into shared cohesion and unification.
Commencing National Football Day, formally celebrated on May 25th, the United Nations General Assembly, co-hosted by Bahrain and Tajikistan, convened a Special Event to celebrate the triumph of football.
With the 2026 FIFA World Cup just around the corner, Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, presided over the Special Event, expressing solidarity in the hope that football can foster progressive dialogue, curtailing the discouraging discourse and events that overwhelm our society today.
Before the Special Event, Dujarric told reporters that the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) today announced its “Game-changing Team,” a symbolic conglomerate of soccer players who have backgrounds as refugees or displaced people.
Dujarric added that the team “embodies hope, courage, resilience, and the power of what is possible when people displaced by war and persecution are met with safety, opportunity, and welcome.”
Such a theme emerged as a key focus in today’s Special Event, highlighted by the positive remarks made by FIFA President Gianni Infantino. Infantino recalled football’s “magic ability,” a place of common worship where only “one language” is prevalent: the language of football. “Football,” he says, “brings the best out of people.” It is a safe space where people of different ethnicities, cultures, histories, ages, education levels, and classes can come together as equals.
