FIFA Accused of 'Tyranny' After Revoking Gazzetta's World Cup Final Accreditations

The prominent Italian sports publication, Gazzetta dello Sport, has had three of its five World Cup Final accreditations revoked, leading to suspicions that FIFA is retaliating against the newspaper for its critical coverage of the tournament's organization.

La Gazzetta dello Sport, Italy's most widely read sports daily, will now only have two correspondents present at the World Cup Final in New York, a significant reduction from the originally planned five.

Filippo Maria Ricci, the newspaper's correspondent for Spain, initially secured a press tribune seat for the match. However, this accreditation was later withdrawn, with FIFA citing a shortage of available space.

Ricci expressed his dismay on X, formerly Twitter: "It's over. After 38 days, 11 live games, 165 articles for Gazzetta, my World Cup comes to an abrupt and unexpected end just before the final. This morning I had a ticket for the final, plus mixed zone and parking; a few hours later they’ve all been cancelled. FIFA told us that it was a matter of places. Gazzetta went from five accepted tickets to two; Corriere has 5/5 confirmed; and Repubblica has 3/3. I don’t know if other reasons led to the cut our quota, but I know for sure that my World Cup ends in the worst possible way, pervaded by a sense of injustice.”

Two of Ricci's colleagues experienced similar credential revocations. In contrast, other Italian newspapers, Corriere della Sera and Repubblica, faced no such restrictions, retaining all their allocated accreditations (five and three, respectively).

Davide Chinellato, Gazzetta's UK correspondent, also voiced his concerns on X: "What a shame! A media as respected as Gazzetta, for which FIFA president Gianni Infantino willingly penned a column when this endless World Cup started, now has three credentials for the Finals stripped away for criticising what went wrong. Is football a tyranny now?”

Chinellato's comments alluded to recent articles published by Gazzetta dello Sport that criticized the tournament's organization and certain controversial decisions, including the reversal of a red card against Folarin Balogun. Gazzetta's criticism was not unique, as other media outlets in Italy and globally had also raised similar concerns.

Earlier in July, Gazzetta ran a front-page headline stating: “World Cup kicked, the scandal of the suspended red card.” On July 18, the paper published another critical piece titled: “World Cup disaster: Too many games, too much money and too much Trump.”

Ricci and Gazzetta have garnered support from fellow journalists online. Giovanni Capuano of Radio 24 commented: "It may well be a cynical thought, but it’s hard not to suspect that FIFA’s decision to revoke more than half of the press accreditations it had allocated to Gazzetta for the final is, in some way, connected to the criticism of Infantino’s World Cup. And it’s not a pleasant suspicion. Which is why it’s entirely plausible that Infantino will want to put things right before the match kicks off.”

English Translation:

Italian sports newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport had three of its five accreditations for the 2026 World Cup Final revoked, amid suspicions that FIFA punished the media for its criticism of the organisation of this summer’s tournament.

La Gazzetta dello Sport, Italy’s most popular sports newspaper, will have just two correspondents for today’s World Cup Final in New York, rather than five.

The newspaper’s Spain correspondent, Filippo Maria Ricci, was initially allocated a seat in the media tribune for the match, but it was later denied, with FIFA citing a lack of available space.

“It’s over. After 38 days, 11 live games, 165 articles for Gazzetta, my World Cup comes to an abrupt and unexpected end just before the final,” Ricci wrote on X. “This morning I had a ticket for the final, plus mixed zone and parking; a few hours later they’ve all been cancelled. FIFA told us that it was a matter of places. Gazzetta went from five accepted tickets to two; Corriere has 5/5 confirmed; and Repubblica has 3/3. I don’t know if other reasons led to the cut our quota, but I know for sure that my World Cup ends in the worst possible way, pervaded by a sense of injustice.”

The same happened to two of his colleagues, while Corriere della Sera and Repubblica, two other political newspapers in Italy, had no restrictions and were allowed to send five and three correspondents, respectively.

Davide Chinellato, Gazzetta’s UK correspondent, wrote on X: “What a shame! A media as respected as Gazzetta, for which the FIFA president Gianni Infantino willingly penned a column when this endless World Cup started, now has three credentials for the Finals stripped away for criticising what went wrong. Is football a tyranny now?”

Chinellato referred to some articles published by Gazzetta dello Sport over the last few days, in which the Italian newspaper criticised the tournament’s organisation and some controversial decisions made during the tournament, including the revocation of the red card against Folarin Balogun. To be fair, they were not the only ones to do so in Italy and other countries worldwide.

On July 7, Gazzetta wrote on its front page: “World Cup kicked, the scandal of the suspended red card.”

Yesterday, on July 18, the pink paper added: “World Cup disaster: Too many games, too much money and too much Trump.”

Ricci and Gazzetta received support from a few colleagues online: “It may well be a cynical thought, but it’s hard not to suspect that FIFA’s decision to revoke more than half of the press accreditations it had allocated to Gazzetta for the final is, in some way, connected to the criticism of Infantino’s World Cup,” wrote Radio 24’s Giovanni Capuano. “And it’s not a pleasant suspicion. Which is why it’s entirely plausible that Infantino will want to put things right before the match kicks off.”