The U.S. authorities closed nearly 2,000 ‘sites’ that broadcast World Cup football games without due authorizations, more than half based in Colombia, was released today.
© Reuters
21/07/2026
by
Lusa
Os ‘sites’ broadcast the 2026 World Cup games in real time. The race ended on Sunday with Spain's victory over Argentina by 1-0 in the final.
The blocked domains were mainly from Colombia (1,140), followed by Brazil (309), Dominican Republic (256), Peru (28) and Argentina (14).
“ The continuous effort to seize more than 1,000 domains dedicated to the illegal transmission of the World Cup confirms the government’s commitment to intellectual property rights and the success of the 2026 World Cup,” said Deputy Attorney General A. Tysen Duva in a statement.
The operation was part of Operation Red Card, launched by U.S. authorities during the World Cup, which also included search and seizure operations in Colombia to combat the counterfeiting of sports items, resulting in the arrest of eleven people.
The Justice Department announced that the operation was the result of an investigation conducted by the Washington Office of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Service (ICE), through the Internal Security Investigations Division (HSI) and the National Center for Coordination of Intellectual Property Rights.