2026 World Cup / piracy: 3,000 websites and domain names blocked by the US Department of Justice

1,970 domain names and more than 1,000 websites involved in the illegal streaming of 2026 World Cup matches were seized or blocked during the tournament as part of operations led by the US Department of Justice (DOJ), the DOJ announced on 20 July 2026.

These seizures formed part of three separate operations carried out by the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Centre in collaboration with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), HSI’s overseas offices and several partners, including FIFA, beIN Media Group, NBCUniversal, the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), the UFC and Warner Bros.

The initiative was extended to South America through a joint operation involving "judicial and law enforcement authorities across the Americas" as part of the US Department of…