The US Department of Justice has seized more than 1,000 internet domains that streamed FIFA World Cup 2026 matches without a license.
The domain seizure notice (Source: US Department of Justice)
The seizures came in three waves over the course of the tournament. The first two rounds took down nearly 400 domains by the end of June, and two later rounds pushed the total past 1,000.
The effort, named “Operation Offsides”, was led by the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center (IPR Center) together with Homeland Security Investigations’ (HSI) Washington Field Office, and involved 14 partner organizations spread across 54 countries.
“Operation Offsides is part of the Department’s ongoing effort to protect copyright while reducing the risk to American consumers from the malicious software embedded in many illicit streaming services,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.
Investigators built the case on leads supplied by FIFA, the Motion Picture Association’s Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), and rights holders including beIN Media Group, NBCUniversal, UFC, and Warner Bros.
According to a seizure warrant, HSI agents confirmed the domains were carrying live, unauthorized World Cup broadcasts at the time they were flagged.
“The unauthorized broadcast of World Cup matches violates intellectual property rights and fuels criminal organizations,” added Director Ivan J. Arvelo of the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center.
HSI Deputy Executive Associate Director Matthew Millhollin warned that sites willing to break the law by streaming copyrighted matches may also be willing to plant malware or lift payment details from visitors.
Operation Red Card
In coordination with the Justice Department’s International Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property (ICHIP) program, authorities in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, and Peru ran a campaign called “Operation Red Card”. Colombia blocked 1,140 domains, Brazil 309, the Dominican Republic 256, Ecuador 223, Peru 28, and Argentina 14.
A second phase of Operation Red Card opened on July 10 with raids in several Colombian cities. Prosecutors there arrested four members of a group known as Los Ciberinfiltrados, accused of breaking into telecom systems since 2024 and reselling pirated streaming access, World Cup matches included, using stolen credentials and hijacked corporate accounts.
Back in May, the FBI flagged a wave of fake FIFA websites selling counterfeit tickets and hospitality packages while harvesting visitors’ personal and payment data.
