--- title: Prince Ali: FIFA Should Not Disband Anti-Racism Task Force description: Prince Ali of Jordan responds to FIFA's decision to disband its anti-racism task force. canonical: https://time.com/4508050/fifa-anti-racism-task-force/ author: IDEAS Desk article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-09-26T19:48:28.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T00:50:08.113Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Prince Ali of Jordan: It's 'Shameful' of FIFA to Disband Anti-Racism Task Force og:description: 'The task force was never given real support' og:url: https://time.com/4508050/fifa-anti-racism-task-force/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf2e775026a0973d8/6988a78be20a87c41ea928d8/ali.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein of Jordan vows to root out corruption at footballs governing body, in a speech at Chatham House as part of his bid to become president of FIFA. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Prince Ali of Jordan: It's 'Shameful' of FIFA to Disband Anti-Racism Task Force twitter:description: 'The task force was never given real support' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf2e775026a0973d8/6988a78be20a87c41ea928d8/ali.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Prince Ali of Jordan: It's 'Shameful' of FIFA to Disband Anti-Racism Task Force by [IDEAS Desk](https://time.com/author/ideas-desk/) ## IDEAS Desk Sep 26, 2016 7:48 PM UTC  Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein of Jordan vows to root out corruption at footballs governing body, in a speech at Chatham House as part of his bid to become president of FIFA. Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein of Jordan vows to root out corruption at footballs governing body, in a speech at Chatham House as part of his bid to become president of FIFA.Pacific Press—LightRocket via Getty Images by [IDEAS Desk](https://time.com/author/ideas-desk/) ## IDEAS Desk Sep 26, 2016 7:48 PM UTC FIFA, the international governing body of soccer, has [disbanded](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/sep/25/fifa-anti-racism-task-force-russia-2018-world-cup) its anti-racism task force, it announced in a letter to task force members over the weekend. In a news conference Monday, FIFA secretary general Fatma Samoura [explained](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/pa/article-3808227/Prince-Ali-Jordan-dismayed-FIFA-anti-racism-taskforce-disbanded.html) the decision to end the force, which was established in 2013: “The task force had a very specific mandate which it fulfilled and its recommendations have been turned into a strong programme.” The task force’s responsibilities included creating an anti-discrimination monitoring system at matches, giving out a diversity award and writing a “[good practice guide](http://resources.fifa.com/mm/Document/AFSocial/Anti-Racism/02/70/94/34/goodpracticeguide%5FNeutral.pdf).” Yet some are arguing that racism remains a pressing problem, especially as Russia prepares to [host](http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/international/russia-2018-racism-guaranteed-at-world-cup-as-incidents-double-a6768701.html) the World Cup in 2018\. According to the [_Guardian_](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/sep/25/fifa-anti-racism-task-force-russia-2018-world-cup), the Moscow-based [SOVA Center](http://www.sova-center.ru/en/xenophobia/news-releases/2016/09/d35359/) and the Uefa-affiliated FARE Network have reported an increase in racist incidents–92 by Russian fans in and around stadiums in the 2014-15 season, compared to 83 total incidents in the prior two seasons. [Prince Ali Bin Hussein of Jordan](http://time.com/3900419/jordan-prince-ali-fifa-soccer-sepp-blatter/), president of the Jordan Football Association, issued the following statement criticizing the decision on Monday: --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4508050/fifa-anti-racism-task-force/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4508050/fifa-anti-racism-task-force/"},"headline":"Prince Ali of Jordan: It's 'Shameful' of FIFA to Disband Anti-Racism Task Force","datePublished":"2016-09-26T19:48:28.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T00:50:08.113Z","description":"'The task force was never given real support'","url":"https://time.com/4508050/fifa-anti-racism-task-force/","keywords":["Sports topic","Race"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf2e775026a0973d8/6988a78be20a87c41ea928d8/ali.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"IDEAS Desk","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ideas-desk/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf2e775026a0973d8/6988a78be20a87c41ea928d8/ali.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein of Jordan vows to root out corruption at footballs governing body, in a speech at Chatham House as part of his bid to become president of FIFA.","caption":"Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein of Jordan vows to root out corruption at footballs governing body, in a speech at Chatham House as part of his bid to become president of FIFA.","creditText":"Pacific Press—LightRocket via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4508050/fifa-anti-racism-task-force/","name":"Prince Ali of Jordan: It's 'Shameful' of FIFA to Disband Anti-Racism Task Force"}}]}] ```