More than 1,000 illegal streaming sites were shut down in the US during the tournament, with a similar amount blocked in Colombia.

Almost 3,000 websites have been blocked or seized for illegally streaming World Cup matches, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) has said. More than 1,000 domains were shut down in the US alone during the tournament, with a similar number blocked in Colombia. Enforcement agencies in America and across South America carried out the action under investigations named "operation offsides" and "operation red card". Ivan J. Arvelo, director of the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center (NIPRCC), said unauthorised broadcasting of World Cup matches violated intellectual property rights and "fuels criminal organizations". The DOJ said at the end of last month it had taken down 400 webpages over illegal World Cup streaming. Now hundreds more have been taken down or blocked. "The sustained effort to seize more than a thousand domains dedicated to illegally streaming the World Cup confirms the administration's commitment to intellectual property rights and to the success of the 2026 FIFA World Cup," said the DOJ's assistant attorney general A. Tysen Duva. The enforcement has been largely overseen by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a federal agency that includes the NIPRCC. The illegal streaming of sports often happens through webpages or websites created specifically for the event. Companies and broadcasters have estimated, external the activity costs them billions of dollars a year.