Soccer players push for global peace at 2026 World Cup

The 2026 World Cup is shaping up to be an eye-catcher in modern international relations, with the world coming to North America at a time when global peace looks delicate.

A handful of players and activists are stepping up to help promote peace through sport. Team USA and San Jose Earthquakes defender DeJuan Jones and DC United forward Dominique Badji lent their platforms to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute for a seminar on how soccer can help foster positive relationships between fans from competing countries.

But as the World Cup comes to the United States for the first time since 1994, a point of discussion amid these international relations is whether America should follow the rest of the world in calling the sport soccer.

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President Donald Trump even said he thinks America is giving the name soccer to soccer, while renaming American soccer to something else at the World Cup draw on Sunday.

Both Jones and Badji agree with Trump, but they don’t think a complete name change is possible.

“I think it makes the most sense because football should be called football, but we have the NFL, so I think it would be really hard to change the name of the NFL,” Jones told Pakinomist Digital. “So I think we’ll just always call it football, and you know, people might laugh at us for that, but we can have it as what we call the sport.”

Badji, who was born in the African nation of Senegal, believes that renaming the sport to soccer would symbolically help the United States catch up with the rest of the world competitively in the sport. But he is also aware of American football’s cultural dominance.

“By calling it soccer here, you’re competing with the biggest sport in the country… I think it should be soccer because that’s what the rest of the world calls it,” Badji told Pakinomist Digital.

“When you talk about American football, you’re trying to catch up with the rest of the world, and it’s just a little barrier in football-football, but at the end of the day, I think it should be called football. But it’s a losing battle, you’re not going to be able to change American football to another name.”

One thing that both Jones and Badji believe can be addressed in the US when the World Cup begins is fan behavior during matches.

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In 2025 alone, football matches around the world have been sites of violent fan behaviour.

This month at a match for French club OGC France, players and staff were assaulted, spat on and beaten by their own supporters after a loss, and a man in Britain was accused of racially abusing Bournemouth player Antoine Semenyo during a Premier League game against Liverpool.

“The biggest thing is the fan behavior,” Jones said. “It is important that the adults show proper behavior for the children who are becoming adults.”

Jones added of the upcoming World Cup: “There are going to be a lot of people from many different cultures, so I’m sure there will be some clashes, but I think it will also be a good chance to celebrate each other’s differences and learn about each other’s cultures.

“Safety is going to be important and you want to make sure it’s a safe environment for everybody and everybody can just enjoy the games and get home safe.”

Badji said he is disappointed with the behavior of fans at MLS games “all the time.”

“People turning you away, people saying slurs at you, unfortunately I’ve had racist slurs thrown at me. I’ve heard other slurs thrown at other people, so it’s unfortunate,” he said.

Badji said that one of his biggest hopes and goals for the upcoming World Cup is to “get rid of some of the ignorance that comes with not knowing the cultures of different countries,” and that

“Football will bring people together who may not speak the same language,” Badji, who later added “Politics is so heavily involved in football that sometimes it affects the way people perceive other people, other teams, other countries.”

It’s a topic Badji and Jones addressed at the “Three Nations, One Game: North America’s Role in Shaping Global Sportsmanship,” panel at the Ronald Reagan Institute’s Center for Civility and Democracy (CCD) in downtown Washington, DC, on Dec. 2. They delivered their speech alongside Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-FIFA, the director of the White House, Andrew, the World and FIFA. Cup 2026 Task Force.

CCD director Fred Ryan told Pakinomist Digital that he believes even more than the fans, the players are responsible for showing respect on the field to promote a peaceful environment.

“There’s been a couple of disappointing things from time to time, there’s an athlete on the field who doesn’t show respect for their opponent or the rules of the game or the referee,” Ryan said. “On the field we want to applaud good sportsmanship, we want to applaud people who respect their opponent… and people who respect the rules of the game.”

For Jones, one of his ways to maintain respect and promote unity as a player on the field is by channeling his devotion to Jesus Christ.

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DeJuan Jones #15 of the United States prior to the CONCACAF Gold Cup 2023 semifinal match against Panama at Snapdragon Stadium on July 12, 2023 in San Diego, California. Panama won the match on penalties after a 1-1 draw. (Shaun Clark/ISI Photos/Getty Images)

“I believe that Jesus Christ died for our sins, and every day, honestly, when I read my Bible and pray, and certainly before I step on the field, I just ask the Lord to protect me and guide me when I’m out there,” Jones said.

“One of the biggest things Jesus teaches is just to love your neighbor as yourself… I think a lot of times in society people look at themselves and whatever gets them ahead, but if we all just had a little bit more empathy and looked at our neighbors and see what we could do to help instead of always getting something and receiving… I think the world would be a lot more peaceful in creating.”