The FIFA Vector

A key aim within Critical and Cultural Studies is to analyze how non-governmental international institutions engage with political and economic processes. This article argues that the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) shapes a fundamental institutional vector for global capital accumulation, which is based on the exploitation of players and communities. Under the influence of protection rackets, FIFA has actually functioned as a governmental machine that enforces the commodification of football. Furthermore, it propagates a narrative of football's magic that legitimizes non-democratic governments seeking some cultural validation. In these ways, FIFA interacts with the emergence of the vectoral state. Over the past years, FIFA has supported vectorfascism: the Trump administration’s ongoing war to recalibrate U.S. capitalist vectors through military, legal, financial, and repressive actions, both within the United States and internationally.