As the FIFA World Cup brings in millions of international fans to the United States, criminals are lurking behind-the-scenes to exploit the buzz surrounding the games.
In the last few weeks, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has intercepted massive amounts of counterfeit FIFA World Cup merch. In a recent five-day operation dubbed “Protect the Pitch,” border officers in Cincinnati seized 68 shipments of counterfeit FIFA World Cup 2026 jerseys, shirts, shorts, shoes, hats, jewelry, and other merch, CBP told The Daily Wire.
If they had been authentic, the 2,589 items had an estimated retail value of $266,566, according to CBP. The shipments included 1,563 FIFA World Cup 2026 jerseys, 306 pairs of shorts, 200 pairs of footwear, 150 hats, 80 shirts, and 290 other World Cup-related items that originated in Mexico and Colombia.
CBP
CBP
Officers were able to catch the packages by tracking mail bound for the games’ host cities, including Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Seattle.
The latest seizure is part of a nationwide effort by border authorities to stop counterfeit World Cup items from entering the market.
During the first week of the World Cup, CBP seized $23 million worth of fake fan gear, the agency said.
Cincinnati Port Director Eric Zizelman said that criminals typically use major sporting events “to flood the market with knockoffs and cheap imitations just to make a buck,” adding that “businesses and the American consumer pay the price.” CBP also warned that fake items can pose dangers to Americans’ health, safety, and economic security.
“It’s a shame criminals are preying on soccer fans and using the World Cup as a means to steal money from consumers,” Cincinnati Port Director Eric Zizelman said in a statement.
“It happens around all the major sporting events, whether it be the Super Bowl, World Series, or in this case, the World Cup,” Zizelman said.
In a separate incident on June 17, CBP officers seized 8,400 counterfeit Nike soccer jerseys with an estimated retail value of $840,000 at Miami International Airport. The package originated in China and was bound for Brazil.
A similar seizure worth more than $6 million occurred at a seaport in Houston. During the interception, CBP officers uncovered 2,000 Adidas Soccer Jerseys, 4,500 Adidas FIFA Soccer Balls, nearly 4,400 pairs of athletic shoes, 69 FIFA packages containing over 2,200 counterfeit Apple Watches and headphones with the FIFA trademark logo in shipments from China.
In Indianapolis, CBP officers discovered 530 FIFA World Cup 2026 jerseys, 380 beanies, 349 Puma, Adidas, and Nike shirts tied to the tournament that came from Hong Kong.
Over 90% of counterfeit items confiscated by CBP arrive through international mail, according to CBP.
