DOJ condemns illegal World Cup broadcast in ‘Operation Offsides’

As the World Cup continues across North America, US officials are targeting one of the tournament’s biggest illegal channels: illegal broadcasting.

On Friday, June 26, the Department of Justice announced that it has seized nearly 400 websites allegedly used to illegally stream FIFA World Cup matches in real time, which, according to the DOJ, violates US copyright law.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. Either it is loading or it has already been downloaded.

The seizure was part of “Operation Offsides,” an international law enforcement effort led by the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center with assistance from Homeland Security Investigations, US prosecutors, foreign law enforcement partners, FIFA, and several major media companies (NBCUniversal, Warner Bros., and UFC, to name a few).

So if someone clicks on one of the domains that are now blocked, they won’t see the World Cup broadcast; they will see a legal notice explaining that the site has been removed from the Internet – “THIS SITE HAS BEEN REMOVED,” to be specific.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. Either it is loading or it has already been downloaded.

The operation extends outside the US The DOJ said law enforcement actions were coordinated through the International Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property Network of US prosecutors, with servers and domains connected to illegal World Cup streams directed at Peru and Bulgaria. Additional sabotage attempts took place in Croatia, Romania, Poland and Colombia.

In a statement, Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva added that the DOJ seized the sites to disrupt global networks that “benefit from the global popularity of the World Cup.” The department also put this action as part of the responsibility of the United States as one of the countries that host this tournament, along with Canada and Mexico, to protect this event from illegal activities.

The DOJ’s argument was not just about copyright; officials also warned that illegal streaming sites could put viewers at “great risk.”

That warning is a major part of the government’s case against illegal sports sources. DOJ officials say unauthorized streaming sites can expose viewers to malware attacks and unsecured connections that could compromise personal or financial data. The risk isn’t just a theory: a 2022 report from UK-based anti-crime group the Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT) found malicious content on all 50 illegal sports streaming sites it analyzed, including scam ads, banking trojans, and outright pirates. Viewers are also faced with deceptive ads, scams, and extensive tracking.

So while illegal streaming may seem like a quick fix when matches are hard to come by, malware is—apparently—not optional.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. Either it is loading or it has already been downloaded.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. Either it is loading or it has already been downloaded.

Friday’s deadline also comes in the midst of the biggest cheating battle in sports. A few days before the DOJ announced the World Cup site seizure, authorities from ACE, UEFA, UC3, and Mexico said they had disrupted 44 sites linked to PirloTV, a major illegal sports broadcasting network focused on soccer. Those sites generate more than 950 million visits worldwide each year, including about 230 million visits from Mexico alone.

After the domains linked to PirloTV were disrupted, new domains quickly appeared again. It’s basically the pirate-wack-a-mole version.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. Either it is loading or it has already been downloaded.

There’s a reason illegal sports streaming is so popular right now. Sports broadcasting rights are increasingly distributed across traditional broadcast channels, streaming apps, cable packages, and local markets. For fans, especially during a global event like the World Cup, finding out where to watch every game can be confusing and expensive. Some even say that the quality is better on unofficial sites.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. Either it is loading or it has already been downloaded.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. Either it is loading or it has already been downloaded.

Rights holders, in turn, argue that piracy drives viewers away from licensed broadcasters, advertisers, and platforms that have paid a ton of money for the rights to show the games.

The dangers of this competition go beyond illegal broadcasting. On May 27, the FBI had warned fans about fake FIFA websites created ahead of the 2026 World Cup. Those rogue sites were designed to impersonate FIFA and could be used to sell fake tickets or hospitality packages, collect personal information, and facilitate financial scams. Taken together, the warnings show just how dangerous the online ecosystem surrounding the big tournament has become,

Currently, hundreds of those World Cup streaming sites are offline. But sports crime has a long history of moving from one site to another, especially during high-profile global events. The latest seizure is a major enforcement action, but it is likely not the final whistle.