The Zapatista Army of National Liberation (#EZLN), through its spokesperson Subcomandante Marcos, published a striking letter regarding the #2026WorldCup. In the text titled “Love and Heartbreak According to Football,” Marcos criticizes the fact that the world’s attention is focused on the World Cup while more than 135,000 people remain disappeared in Mexico, mothers continue searching for their children, Indigenous communities are being forcibly displaced, and social crises persist across the country. Throughout the letter, FIFA, national federations, and the system that is increasingly turning football into a spectacle and a commercial product are criticized. According to Marcos, the problem is not football itself, but its transformation into a massive industry controlled by corporations, sponsors, and executives, detached from ordinary people. Despite this, Marcos stresses that football can still be a tool of resistance. He points to banners in the stands, acts of solidarity, and Lamine Yamal raising a Palestinian flag during Barcelona’s title celebrations as examples that football can still give a voice to the people. The most striking part of the letter is the following passage: “The most important thing about this World Cup will not happen inside the stadiums, but in the streets and on the fields, on the coasts and in the mountains. Because what will take place there will not be a spectacle, but memory and struggle, resistance and rebellion.” According to Marcos, the World Cup will come and go. However, the stories of families searching for their disappeared loved ones, Indigenous peoples, and those fighting for justice will continue long after the tournament is over.