The Price of the Spectacle: Economic Exclusion and Human Rights Violations in the 2026 World Cup

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the human rights violations resulting from the 2026 fifa World Cup in Mexico City, especifically in areas near the Mexico City Stadium (formerly Azteca). Through a sociological analysis and a qualitative  methodology of documentary scope, the historical  processes that shape the political, economic, and territorial dynamics of sporting mega-events are examined. Utilizing intersectionality as an analytical category, the study observes how power structures produce differentiated inequalities within the local population. 

The content examines the dimensions of economic exclusion and selective access, contrasting global market accumulation with the guarantee of economic, social,  cultural, and environmental rights. Results reveal that this World Cup is operating as a mechanism of cannibal capitalism that fosters water dispossession, gentrification and the forced displacement of vulnerable sectors in the Mexico City stadium’s vicinity. Finally, it is concluded
that, in the face of the territoriality imposed by transnational capital, collective agencies and graphic resistances emerge. These organizational processes consolidate as pillars for the defense of human rights and the recovery of the social meaning of the territory, fracturing the hegemony of the spectacle through the demand for justice and community sovereignty.