The Azanian People’s Organisation (AZAPO) stands in unwavering solidarity with the sovereign people of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela following the illegal, unprovoked, and imperialist military strikes launched by the United States of America on January 3, 2026.
The abduction of President Nicolás Maduro and the First Lady Cilia Flores, and the subsequent declaration by the U.S. administration that it will colonize and run a sovereign state – are acts of naked aggression that violate every principle of international law and the right of nations to self-determination.
In February 2022, FIFA and UEFA moved with unprecedented speed to suspend Russian national team and club teams from all international competitions within four days of the invasion of Ukraine. This decision was justified under the banner of “peace and human rights”.
AZAPO notes that the same global bodies that claim sport is “apolitical” when it suits Western interests were the first to weaponize football to isolate Russia.
If the invasion of a sovereign state and the violation of territorial integrity are the benchmarks for exclusion from the “global game,” then the United States must face the same consequences today.
Our Demands
AZAPO officially call upon FIFA – which inexplicably honoured the US President with some dubious “Peace Prize” – and the international sporting community to immediately suspend the U.S. Soccer Federation from all football activities including the hosting of the coming FIFA World Cup.
Just as Russia was barred from the 2022 World Cup, the U.S. must be excluded from all FIFA-sanctioned events until its military forces are withdrawn, and Venezuela’s sovereignty is restored.
End the Double Standard now.
The world cannot continue to tolerate a system where African, Latin American, and Eastern European nations are sanctioned for conflict, while the “masters of war” in Washington operate with total impunity.
AZAPO remains rooted in the philosophy of Black Consciousness, which rejects all forms of neo-colonialism and imperialism. We view the capture of President Maduro not just as an act of injustice, but as a desperate attempt by the U.S. to seize control of Venezuela’s natural resources, specifically its oil and gas.
We remind FIFA that it once imposed a historic ban on the South African apartheid regime, a move that helped isolate a criminal system. Today, the U.S. government’s actions in Venezuela represent a modern form of global bullying that must be met with the same isolation.
Football belongs to the people, not to imperialist powers.
FIFA must choose – either it stands by its own precedent of punishing aggressors, or admit that it is merely an instrument of Western foreign policy.
