FIFA wants World Cup volunteers. Why not just pay them?

Patrick Johnston: FIFA says they need 6,000 volunteers for the 2026 World Cup in Canada. They’ve got $3 billion in the bank

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Published Aug 11, 2025 • 2 minute read

Volunteers move a giant replica of the World Cup trophy before a match between Portugal and Uruguay at the Lusail Stadium in Lusail, Qatar in 2022. Photo by Darko Vojinovic /AP

No tournament or major public event gets pulled off without people power.

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The bigger the event, the more people you need.

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For the 13 games the FIFA World Cup will bring to Canada next year, the sport’s organizers are looking to recruit 6,000 volunteers.

That’s a solid number, although it pales in comparison to the 25,000 recruits the Vancouver Olympics used for the two-week festival of sport in 2010.

FIFA insists it is a non-profit organization, which uses the revenues it generates from its tent pole events, like the men’s and women’s World Cups, to fund the growth of football all over the world. And there is little doubt they do run programs all over the place.

But we also know that the people in charge, mostly men, are well-paid to do so. For some, sure, that’s something they have earned over a lifetime of hard work and commitment to the world’s most popular sport. Many though, are there through local politicking and glad-handing.

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A decade ago, FIFA was consumed by a massive corruption scandal. Dozens of officials were caught up in it. There were arrests. Some went to prison. Many were disgraced.

FIFA had turned bribery into a casual sport of its own.

The coffers, if you look at FIFA’s public reporting, are deeper than ever. The 2022 tournament in Qatar opened a new era of windfalls for FIFA. The organization’s public balance sheet showed they had nearly $4 billion US in the bank at the end of 2022. Those funds have diminished over the past two years, but at the end of 2024, there was still nearly $3 billion US in the bank.

FIFA, needless to say, is swimming in dough.

So why do they need volunteers to run next year’s event? Why not pay these people?

We pay people to work on our elections. That’s a known budget item. That’s public facing. That’s putting on one of society’s great miracles: a free and fair election.

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It would not break FIFA’s bank if they were to turn around and pay those who will be running errands, handing out drinks and holding open doors.

Volunteers prepare the jump for the women's freestyle skiing aerials qualifications at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Saturday, Feb. 20, 2010. — Volunteers prepare the jump for the women’s freestyle skiing aerials qualifications at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics in Vancouver on Feb. 20, 2010. Photo by Odd Andersen /The Associated Press

I was a volunteer during the 2010 games. I helped build the moguls and aerials facility at Cypress. That was two weeks of good fun. I would have happily taken pay for it. I’m sure the IOC could have afforded it.

Sure, I was happy to offer up my time. So were the other volunteers involved. We did get a front row to history.

But that is beside the point. In the end you are doing work. You are making the event happen. You are volunteering to give up your time, to give up money in many cases, to make the event happen.

You are paying FIFA with your time.

It should be the other way around.

For the record, if you are interested in volunteering, the application window opened on Monday. First tryouts will be this fall, with training for those selected taking place next spring. If you are selected, FIFA says you will be expected to work eight shifts during the tournament. Volunteers will get a uniform, meals, and discounts on tournament merchandise.

pjohnston@postmedia.com