THE THING ABOUT IT IS.
Investigations · The 2026 World Cup, January to July 2026

A sitting party leader answered a photo of players praying with an obscenity about God.

SeverityHatefulTreats a whole group as lesser, dangerous, or not fully human. Everything at this level.
Who said itGeert Wilders, leader of the Dutch Party for Freedom, about 1.6 million followers
Who it targetsMuslims, by way of the Moroccan squad’s prayer
TrackProtected groupsProtected-group hate and political-opponent extremism are counted apart, and neither total is presented as a score against the other. Everything on this track.
What was said

Hours before Morocco played Brazil, Wilders posted a photograph of Moroccan players praying together after scoring, captioned with a two-word obscenity aimed at Allah. We describe it rather than reprint it. Weeks later, before the Netherlands played Morocco, he posted an AI-generated image of himself as a referee showing a Moroccan player a red card, captioned “Komt goed.”

Why it counts

Rivalry talk about a squad is fine, and this tournament produced a lot of it. This wasn't that. The photo shows a religious act and the reply insults the object of it, which reaches past eleven players to about two billion people.

There's no version of this about football. Remove the prayer from the photo and the post has nothing to say.

The receipts

Every quote, checked against its source.

Geert Wilders

"A two-word obscenity about Allah, posted as the caption on a photograph of Moroccan players praying together after a goal. We are describing it rather than reprinting it."

Reported by Morocco World News, Hespress, Bladi, and Dutch outlets including Vandaag Inside. The red-card image is separately confirmed. A third post attributed to him rests on a single source, so we leave it out.

2026-06-14 · source

One item from a pass over 33 accounts and posts tied to the tournament, from the February buildup through the July 19 final. Twenty-four of them stayed on the right side of the line, including sharp criticism of ICE, of FIFA, and of the administration. Those are listed in the full report too.

Go deeper

Hate at the 2026 World Cup

Nine confirmed items, each with its severity breakdown, the accounts checked, and the events that drew nothing. This page is the plain-language cut; that one is the whole thing, including the hate methodology that defines every score here.