Burma Campaign UK today called on FIFA to cancel its contract with a Burmese military company, which granted the military exclusive broadcasting rights in Burma for the 2026 World Cup.
By giving the Burmese military exclusive broadcasting rights, FIFA is betraying football fans in Burma as the only way they can legally access 2026 World Cup games is by paying money to their oppressor.
FIFA is also endangering football fans in Burma by driving them into contracts with a Burmese military company which has a track record of being used to track human rights activists so they can arrest, torture and imprison them.
“FIFA has chosen to take money from the Burmese military instead of ensuring football fans in Burma can enjoy watching the World Cup,” said Mark Farmaner, Director of Burma Campaign UK. “Burmese military company Mytel is celebrating FIFA awarding them exclusive broadcasting rights, knowing it will force football fans to buy their services. FIFA is helping the Burmese military make profits which they can use to buy the bombs they drop on schools and hospitals.”
FIFA’s decision to give TV360, part of the Mytel company, which is co-owned by the Burmese military, exclusive broadcasting rights for the 2026 World Cup, means that people in Burma will have to take out contracts with a military-owned company which has been sanctioned by the USA for its role in using customer data to track down, arrest, torture and imprison human rights and democracy activists.
Mytel is a mobile telecoms company which is a joint venture between the Burmese military and Vietnamese telecoms company Viettel, which is owned by the Vietnamese military. Mytel is the trading name of the company Telecom International Myanmar Company Limited. It is one of the highest profile Burmese military-owned companies but has largely evaded sanctions because of its joint venture status.
When the USA sanctioned Mytel in 2025 it stated it was doing so:
“for providing surveillance services and financial support to Burma’s military regime, enabling the regime to carry out human rights abuses through the tracking and identification of target individuals and groups.”
The European Union (EU) has failed to sanction Mytel despite its role in funding the Burmese military and facilitating human rights violations. Switzerland, where FIFA is based, normally aligns itself with EU sanctions. The EU and Switzerland should have sanctioned Mytel, and in doing so would have prevented this propaganda and financial coup that FIFA has handed to the Burmese military.
The British government has also failed to sanction Mytel and faced calls in the British Parliament earlier this week to do so, with two MPs from the governing Labour Party, Rushanara Ali and Luke Akehurst, calling for UK sanctions on Mytel during a debate on human rights in Burma.
Burma Campaign UK has also received reports from local communities in Burma that Mytel plays a role in facilitating internet connections for scam centres in Burma, which not only steal money from people all over the world, but are also linked to human trafficking, forced labour, organ harvesting and funding the Burmese military and armed groups associated with the Burmese military.
Burma Campaign UK has today written to FIFA warning them that unless they immediately end their contract with this military-owned company, we will be placing FIFA on our ‘Dirty List’ of companies and organisations linked to human rights violations in Burma/Myanmar.
Since the latest military coup in 2021, the Burmese military has been using increasingly violent and repressive tactics in order to try to establish its control over the country. The brutality is such that United Nations investigators have launched investigations into likely violations of international law, namely war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Even before the coup, the Burmese military had one of the worst human rights records in the world. They are facing charges of genocide at the International Court of Justice and are under investigation for the crime of deportation and associated crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court.
United Nations investigators have also stated that they are responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity against other ethnic minorities. The US government has determined that the Myanmar military committed genocide against the Rohingya.
A court in Argentina has issued an arrest warrant for Min Aung Hlaing, the general who is the self-appointed President, and who cut the ribbon at the opening ceremony of Mytel, as well as other senior members of the Burmese military. They are wanted in relation to genocide of the Rohingya.
Elected representatives of the people of Burma, ethnic and other resistance organisations, and civil society organisations in Burma have called for targeted sanctions and for international companies not to engage in business which will provide revenue, arms or equipment to the Burmese military, as this helps enable the crimes they commit. FIFA is now engaged in a business relationship with a Burmese military-owned company that will provide additional revenue to the Burmese military.
“FIFA has chosen profits by doing business with the Burmese military over football fans in Burma,” said Mark Farmaner. “FIFA already has a tarnished reputation, and by partnering with the Burmese military, its reputation will sink even further.”
More information:
Justice for Myanmar reports on Mytel
https://www.justiceformyanmar.org/tags/mytel
US government sanctions notice regarding Mytel
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/01/06/2024-31468/revisions-to-the-entity-list
Mytel website notice regarding exclusive broadcasting rights to the 2026 world cup
https://mytel.com.mm/#/post-detail/643e49b7-9517-4017-99a7-d2d37d63a7f7
2025 media release from Burma Campaign UK calling on the UK and EU to sanction Mytel.
Parliament Increases Pressure on British Government to Sanction Burmese Military