Ethics CasesSport

Cases · FIFA / Morocco · 2023–2026

Clean Streets for the World Cup? Morocco, Stray Dogs and FIFA's Responsibility

Morocco will co-host the 2030 World Cup. Animal-welfare groups, backed by Jane Goodall, say municipalities have shot and poisoned stray dogs to make host cities presentable; CNN verified culling footage from four cities, and a man was wounded by shots fired at a dog. Moroccan officials deny any eradication campaign and cite rabies and roughly 100,000 bites a year. FIFA said it was following up and later helped a coalition submit a redrafted animal-welfare law. In 2026 Morocco enacted Law 19.25, which criminalizes killing strays but also fines unauthorized feeding. The case asks who is responsible when harms are linked to a mega-event.

By Tanner Simkins, editor

Timeline

  1. Morocco introduces a Trap-Neuter-Vaccinate-Release program.
  2. A UK-based NGO presents FIFA officials with evidence of rising culls.
  3. FIFA's human rights adviser tells the NGO that FIFA is engaging with Morocco's government.
  4. A café worker in Ben Ahmed is wounded by shots fired at a stray dog.
  5. A coalition of animal groups and Jane Goodall write to FIFA's secretary general.
  6. Morocco's interior minister announces a $100 million stray-dog program; a draft law is submitted.
  7. CNN reports verified culling footage; FIFA says it is following up with Moroccan counterparts.
  8. The government council approves Draft Law 19.25.
  9. Both houses of parliament adopt the law.
  10. Law 19.25 enters into force.

The ethical issues

  • Responsibility for harms linked to a mega-event.
  • Public health versus animal welfare.
  • Verifying contested claims.
  • Whether FIFA's leverage creates obligations.
  • Unintended effects of reform laws.

Stakeholders

StakeholderInterests & obligations
Stray dogs and their caretakersHumane treatment.
Moroccan residentsProtection from bites and rabies.
Moroccan government and municipalitiesPublic health and a successful World Cup.
FIFAA credible host and its reputation.
Animal-welfare coalitionsAn end to culling and humane management.
Fans and sponsorsNot being associated with cruelty.

The case

Background

Morocco will co-host the 2030 World Cup with Spain and Portugal, with opening matches in Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina [3]. Like many countries, it has a large population of free-roaming dogs. A Ministry of Interior official told CNN that “around 100,000 people are bitten every year, 40% of them children under 15,” and that stray dogs “pose a serious public health risk, particularly as carriers of rabies” [3]. In 2019 the government introduced a Trap-Neuter-Vaccinate-Release (TNVR) program. But municipalities, not the national government, manage stray animals. The same official acknowledged “a legal vacuum,” saying “some cities still rely on traditional methods, and there’s currently no law against killing stray dogs” [3].

What happened

Animal-welfare groups say the killing intensified as the World Cup approached. In March 2023, a UK-based NGO presented senior FIFA officials with photos, videos and testimony about culling. In April 2024, FIFA’s human rights adviser told the group that FIFA was engaging with Morocco’s government “to ensure alignment with FIFA’s bidding requirements.” The group says it heard nothing further [3].

In June 2025, CNN said it had verified footage of dog culling in Marrakech, Casablanca, Agadir and Ifrane. Videos from as recently as May 2025 showed dogs restrained with metal wires and thrown into trucks with carcasses [3]. A coalition leader described people with rifles shooting dogs at night and others being poisoned at municipal facilities. CNN reported that strychnine was used in some cities [3]. A tourism official in Ifrane told CNN that the town had “started cleaning the streets of stray dogs, as part of our preparations for the 2030 FIFA World Cup.” He said the animals were relocated to be vaccinated [3]. In January 2025, a café worker in Ben Ahmed was struck in the knee and thigh by bullets fired at a stray dog. He said police later told him the vehicle belonged to the municipality. CNN could not obtain comment from police [3].

In February 2025, a coalition of ten animal-rights groups urged FIFA to act [3]. Jane Goodall wrote to FIFA Secretary General Mattias Grafström that she was “absolutely appalled” by killings “as part of an apparent effort to make FIFA World Cup venues more ‘presentable’ to foreign visitors.” She urged FIFA to suspend Morocco’s co-host role unless the killing stopped [3][4]. Human Rights Watch’s Minky Worden warned of “a major PR issue if FIFA doesn’t take concrete action” [3].

Moroccan officials rejected the framing. The ministry official told Morocco World News that “there is no campaign to eradicate stray dogs” [2]. The government, which has consistently denied the accusations, announced a $100 million national program in May 2025 to sterilize and vaccinate strays [2]. The same official told CNN, “No more slaughter. No more strychnine. We need an ethical solution” [3].

FIFA said Morocco’s bid had “outlined its commitment to the protection of animal rights,” including expanded clinics for stray dogs, and that it was “following up with its local counterparts with the aim to ensure commitments are upheld” [3]. It said the Moroccan federation had confirmed that “a number of measures have been implemented over the last 5 years” [3].

The rules and governance

FIFA has no direct authority over municipal animal control. Its leverage comes through hosting agreements and the commitments made in the bid [3]. The coalition, which says it has more than 80 member organizations, later reported that FIFA had helped it submit an expert redraft of Morocco’s Draft Law 19.25 directly to the Moroccan authorities. FIFA was quoted as saying it “helped the IAWPC by submitting the revised draft law” [5].

Morocco’s government council approved the draft law in July 2025 [2]. The House of Representatives adopted it on 29 June 2026, and the House of Councillors on 7 July without amendment. It was promulgated on 28 July 2026 and entered into force after publication in the Official Gazette [1][6]. The law:

  • requires municipalities to create centres to capture, treat, sterilize and vaccinate strays, then release or rehome them [1];
  • punishes intentionally killing, torturing or mistreating a stray animal with two to six months in prison and fines of 5,000 to 20,000 dirhams [1][6];
  • requires owned pets to be identified and registered [1];
  • fines people 500 to 2,000 dirhams for feeding, sheltering or treating strays in public spaces outside the legal framework [1][6].

Aftermath

Campaigners criticized the feeding restriction, saying volunteers provide much of the food and care that street animals receive, and asked for clearer implementing rules. Gulf News reported that some of the law’s mechanisms had yet to be established [6]. Whether the killing has stopped, and whether the new centres will have the capacity the law assumes, remained to be shown.

The core dilemma

When serious harms are alleged in a host country, and linked by critics to preparations for a tournament, what is the governing body’s responsibility? Is it to verify the claims, to use its leverage, to threaten the award, or to defer to a sovereign government’s public-health policy?

Competing values

  • Animal welfare: humane treatment of sentient creatures.
  • Public health: protecting people, especially children, from bites and rabies [3].
  • Sovereignty: domestic policy belongs to Morocco.
  • Accountability: FIFA chose the host and accepted its commitments [3].
  • Accuracy: the claims and the denial conflict [2][3].

Strongest arguments

FIFA must act: the tournament creates incentives to “clean” streets, as one local official openly said [3]. FIFA was warned in 2023 and accepted bid commitments on animal welfare. It has leverage that campaigners lack, and its later role in the law shows that leverage can be used [3][5].

FIFA’s role is limited: stray-dog management predates the bid and reflects a genuine public-health problem [2][3]. The national government denies any campaign and has funded a humane program and enacted a law [1][2]. Threatening to strip a host over municipal practices would overreach, and could harden resistance rather than speed reform.

Applying the frameworks

Care

The care lens extends concern to vulnerable beings who cannot speak for themselves, and to the residents and volunteers who look after them. It asks whether the feeding ban breaks relationships of care that the law needs.

Utilitarian

A utilitarian weighs harm to animals and the risk to bystanders against bites and rabies. Evidence on TNVR versus culling matters here: if humane programs reduce rabies more effectively, both goals align.

Justice

Justice asks whether FIFA applies consistent standards to host-country harms, as it has to labour rights, and whether responsibility is fairly divided between FIFA, the national government and municipalities.

Walk it through: the Simple Decision Model

  1. Identify the problem: credible reports of inhumane culling linked to tournament preparations.
  2. Gather the facts: verified footage, official denials, the bid commitments and the law.
  3. Identify the stakeholders: animals, residents, caretakers, municipalities, the government, FIFA, fans and sponsors.
  4. Consider the options: private dialogue, public conditions, independent monitoring or reconsidering the award.
  5. Apply values and frameworks: welfare, public health, sovereignty and accountability.
  6. Decide and review: set measurable commitments, monitor them independently, and report publicly before 2030.

What’s settled and what’s contested

Settled: Morocco enacted Law 19.25, criminalizing the killing of strays and restricting unauthorized feeding [1][6]. FIFA helped the coalition submit a redraft [5].

Contested: the scale of the culling, whether it is linked to the World Cup, and how far FIFA’s responsibility extends.

Why this case matters

Mega-events draw attention to everything that happens in a host country. Compare Qatar 2022 World Cup and Migrant Labor, The Other Side of the Medal: Homelessness, Evictions and the Paris 2024 Olympics and Michael Vick and the Bad Newz Kennels Dogfighting Case.

Key terms

Sportswashing
Using sport, through events, teams or sponsorship, to improve the reputation of a state or company and distract from wrongdoing.
Institutional accountability
Structures that make a sport organization explain its decisions and face consequences: clear authority, transparency, appeals, independent oversight and enforcement.
Stakeholders
Everyone with something at stake in a decision: athletes, coaches, parents, officials, fans, employees, sponsors, media, communities and regulators, including the less visible ones.
Multiple points of view
Analyzing a dilemma from each stakeholder’s position in turn (athlete, parent, coach, administrator, official, bystander) before reaching your own reasoned view.
Prevent, minimize, mitigate, remedy
An order of priorities for harm: prevent it if possible, then minimize it, mitigate what remains, and remedy what has been done.

Definitions from the Ethics Cases glossary.

Discussion questions

  1. Is FIFA responsible for how municipalities treat stray animals?
  2. How should FIFA weigh disputed evidence?
  3. Should animal welfare be part of hosting requirements?
  4. Does a fine for feeding strays undermine the law's welfare aims?
  5. What would credible monitoring look like?

Sources

  1. Animaux errants: obligations, interdits, sanctions… Ce qu'il faut savoir sur la nouvelle loi entrée en vigueur — H24info
  2. Morocco Approves Draft Law on Protection of Strays, Safeguarding Citizens from Potential Dangers — Morocco World News
  3. Why is Morocco killing thousands of stray dogs ahead of the 2030 World Cup? — CNN
  4. Jane Goodall Urges FIFA to Act Over Morocco's Dog Killings Ahead of 2030 World Cup — International Animal Welfare Protection Coalition
  5. FIFA and IAWPC submit revised animal welfare law to Moroccan government — International Animal Welfare Protection Coalition
  6. Morocco Enforces New Law Restricting Feeding of Stray Animals in Public Spaces, Imposes Heavy Fines — Gulf News