American Arab community leaders concerned by refereeing performances

CHICAGO, IL: As the last of eight Arab teams was eliminated from the final rounds of the World Cup, American Arab community leaders and sports enthusiasts said that they were concerned by what they saw as a bias by FIFA referees and officials during several games.

The World Cup competition returned to North America after 32 years, co-hosted by Canada, Mexico and the US. The US, which first hosted the tournament in 1994, attracted intense international attention and interest, including the visit of Jordan’s King Abdullah II to the Dallas Stadium for the match against Argentina in Texas on June 27.

All eight Arab nations at the 2026 World Cup have now exited the tournament following Morocco’s 2-0 quarter-final loss to France.

Egypt was the first Arab team to qualify for the World Cup in 1934, but despite more teams from North Africa and the Middle East taking part over the ensuing decades, no Arab team has won the FIFA World Cup or reached the final.

“The future is bright for Arab football and we continue to hope that an Arab team will win the FIFA World Cup,” Chicago Arab Retail Business Association Chairman Mohammed Abdullah told Arab News.

“The United States did a very good job hosting FIFA and did so while spending far less than Qatar spent on the previous World Cup competition,” he said. “I am hopeful that the participation of Arab teams in future tournaments will lead to even better results. We have already seen significant progress, with Arab teams becoming more competitive and Morocco making an impressive run deep into the tournament.”

Abdullah said many American Arab restaurants and businesses experienced surges during the games as groups hosted watch parties, receptions and gatherings.

“The World Cup is