A month before kick-off at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, security experts, including law enforcement, are finetuning preparations to keep the tournament safe, both inside and outside sports venues. The international standards developed through INTERPOL’s Project Stadia play an important role in supporting their work.
From 11 June to 19 July, the eyes and hearts of football fans across the world will be focused on the 48 national teams competing for one of sport’s most coveted trophies at venues in Canada, Mexico and the United States. Behind the scenes, teams from INTERPOL and law enforcement agencies in all three countries will be working to ensure that no safety or security incidents divert that attention from what’s happening on the pitch.
Security from warm-ups to the final whistle…
The 2026 tournament is the second FIFA World Cup to benefit from the expertise developed by INTERPOL’s Project Stadia, launched during the run-up to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, when the Middle Eastern country looked to INTERPOL as an expert partner in ensuring the tournament’s success. “The State of Qatar committed to making it the safest and most secure World Cup yet and Project Stadia allowed us to achieve that and build a lasting legacy for future events,” says Ali Mohammed Al Ali, INTERPOL Executive Committee Member for Asia and Head of INTERPOL Doha. “Alongside INTERPOL, we were able to create a centre of excellence and develop international standards for security at future major events, from sports, to political summits or live music”.
… and well beyond extra time
The security and safety challenges faced by host countries are both criminal and crowd-protection related and include terrorism, crowd management, cyber threats, human trafficking, sports integrity, public safety and more. The Stadia centre of excellence helps them plan and implement security and safety arrangements by providing support from specialist teams on topics like international police cooperation, sport legislation or cybersecurity, access to an international network of experts, a global information hub and a Joint Taskforce deployed ahead of and during events, including certified training for host country law enforcement commanders.
Since 2022, the taskforce has been deployed at the 2023 Asian Football Cup in Qatar, the 2024 Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games and the Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco in 2025.
Investing in a legacy
“Project Stadia is an excellent example of how investing in INTERPOL and its expertise can become an investment in a legacy that member countries can leverage now and in the future,” says Ali Mohammed Al-Ali. “The early successes of Stadia led the Qatari government to extend its support for the project beyond 2025 and we are now actively investigating opportunities to build further partnerships with INTERPOL in other areas.”