Fifa reports 30,000 abusive social media posts in 2025

Fifa says it has reported more than 30,000 abusive posts to social media platforms this year.

World football’s governing body said in a report that 11 people were reported to law enforcement authorities in 2025 and one case was submitted to Interpol.

Fifa said the individuals were in Argentina, Brazil, France, Poland, Spain, the UK and the US, and had been identified «following abuse during Fifa competitions».

«On the International Day for Tolerance, I want to make it abundantly clear that football must be a safe and inclusive space – on the pitch, in the stands and online,» said Fifa president Gianni Infantino.

«Through the Fifa social media protection service (SMPS) and by deploying advanced technology and human expertise, Fifa is taking decisive action to protect players, coaches, teams, and match officials from the serious harm that online abuse causes.»

Fifa set up the SMPS in 2022 with players’ union Fifpro to monitor, report and block abusive content.

Fifa was criticised after it appeared to drop anti-racism messaging at the Club World Cup, which was held in the US this summer, but SMPS was used.

A Fifa statement read: «During the tournament SMPS monitored 2,401 active accounts across five social media platforms covering players, coaches, teams and match officials participating at the groundbreaking tournament, with 5.9m posts analysed, 179,517 flagged for review and 20,587 reported to the relevant platforms.»

Infantino said: «Our message is clear: abuse has no place in our game, and we will continue to work with our member associations, the confederations and law enforcement authorities to hold offenders accountable.

«This behaviour has no place in football or in society and Fifa is taking all possible steps by reporting these incidents and also by blacklisting individuals from purchasing tickets for Fifa tournaments.»

Fifa said more than 65,000 abusive posts have been reported to social media platforms since the SMPS was created.