Mexico City gripped by protests and blockades with World Cup about to get underway

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Police form a cordon to keep protestors at bay from the Azteca Stock Photo
on the ground
Mexico City gripped by protests and blockades with World Cup about to get underway
In a city where it feels like the walls are closing in, Fifa president Gianni Infantino takes centre stage acting like a man without a care in the world.
6.31am, 10 Jun 2026
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David Sneyd
reports from Mexico City
ALONG THE SIDE streets and cramped lanes around the Azteca Stadium, it feels like the place is closing in on you.
Your senses are constantly under attack.
Even somewhere as vast as Mexico City, the sheer scale of the 23 million population means the grip of claustrophobia is all-consuming.
On a day like this that sensation is even more pronounced, and it was added to further by the blockade and protests along a main avenue leading to the historic venue, led by a breakaway group of the CNTE teachers’ union.
They plan to continue the disruption in the build up to Thursday’s World Cup opener between Mexico and South Africa. The country’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, has called the union’s actions a “provocation” but they are intent on using the world’s biggest stage to get across their message about pay rises and pension issues.
Police ensured the teachers did not descend beyond the outer perimeter of the stadium.
In a city like this, such acts of defiance are not easy.
The altitude is almost 2,300 metres above sea level, so oxygen feels like a luxury. You are not quite gasping for air but straining for that extra breath.
The mountains which surround this ancient metropolis are not visible because of low clouds and fog. Or maybe it’s the pollution.
According to Nasa’s radar system Nisar, Mexico City is also sinking at a rate of around 25cm per year, the geological remnants of formation on an ancient lake.
The teacher union Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
Until the football begins it also feels like this World Cup is going under for a myriad of reasons.
There is understated beauty to be found, though. The bricks of some of these small houses in the shadow of the Azteca, some with tin roofs, others with red tiles, are mostly colourful. There are blue and pink and green and yellow dotted between a dirty grey. The pride of the homeowners can be seen in some of the gorgeous plants and flowers dangling out of windows or placed on concrete ledges.
The murals and graffiti covering every sinew of the battered carriles are part of this place rather than an eyesore. Barely 50ft away from one of the entrances to the Azteca – away from the blockade – there is a local market that would put Moore Street in its heyday to shame.
Further down, weave in and out of the stands selling fried beef, chicken and beans, and there is a sign painted in big blue letters on a white bedsheet.
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A man waves potential customers in from across the street. He peels back aluminium sheeting where you can pay 25 pesos (roughly €1.25) to relieve yourself. He offers individual sheets of toilet paper for additional cost if you need to sit (or squat) for a longer stay.
In the nearby Coyoacan district at the El Deportivo La Fragata football club the use of the same facilities will set you back seven pesos.
Maybe this is what Gianni Infantino was hoping for with World Cup trickle-down economics.
The Fifa president is due to give a speech in the Azteca Stadium at 12.30pm (7.30pm Irish) on Wednesday.
The last 48 hours have highlighted just how little control Fifa seems to have over their own showpiece. Or perhaps how willing they are to simply cede control of it to US President Donald Trump and US authorities.
The Senegal FA did clarify the scenes of their players being searched and scanned by airport staff on the tarmac in Raleigh, North Carolina, though. While the clip went viral on social media, purporting to be a degrading welcome as the team disembarked, the Senegalese authorities confirmed that it was in fact a standard security screening before boarding a private flight and complied with airport regulations.
There was also a photograph doing the rounds of Kevin De Bruyne sitting in a chair on the tarmac at an airport while a security official scanned around his feet as if he was prepping to do a nixer as a shoe shiner.
While that did look somewhat comical, of far more concern has been the situation regarding some among the Iranian delegation being refused entry to the country while tickets for their fans were revoked just days before their opener with New Zealand on 15 June in Los Angeles.
Incidentally, that game is taking place in SoFi Stadium, and it was confirmed on Wednesday that the union representing around 2,000 workers had struck an agreement with bosses to avoid strike action.
The New York Times also detailed how one of the clauses states that if there was “reasonable apprehension of harm to the safety and security of workers” due to the presence of federal agents, such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), workers would be entitled to walk off the job.
This is the kind of backdrop we are witnessing and wading through in real time, making it feel as though this is some kind of Trojan Horse World Cup for some of the most vulnerable in American society.
Somalian referee Omar Artan, held up as Africa’s best, was refused entry when he arrived to Miami. His dream of officiating at the tournament was dashed and Fifa simply shrugged at the actions of a belligerent host.
These episodes also get to the heart of what is so wrong about the way Infantino has cosied up to Trump, a symbiotic relationship that sees the Fifa president attempting to rule in some form of reflected glory.
That reflection being the vulgar sheen emanating from the White House.
Gianni Infantino gives a speech in New York on Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
The vacuous nature of Infantino’s leadership has been laid bare with these most recent issues, a man clinging to the coattails of those with real authority but not daring to challenge when their principles and actions are so out of sync with what is supposed to be at the core of Fifa’s mandate.
Earlier on Tuesday it also emerged that former Uefa president Michel Platini had filed civil and legal proceedings against Fifa and Infantino over corruption allegations dating back to 2015.
Platini says this derailed his bid to lead the governing body. One of the first Fifa press releases which followed was announcing a new Crypto Exchange Supporter, while Infantino posted a picture to his Instagram page posing with a prominent social media influencer.
In a city where it feels like the walls are closing in, Infantino will take centre stage of the eve of the World Cup and no doubt act like a man without a care in the world.
David Sneyd
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