How the People's Cup in Atlanta Defied a Damaging Lineage

As this summer's FIFA World Cup signifies the return of the mega international sporting event to Atlanta, it falls into a lineage riddled with displacement, repression, and profiteering. However, on April 19, the city witnessed a different kind of soccer tournament, one representing a growing force committed to building power from below, to keeping one another safe, and to resisting the abuses of power that stalk the shadows of mega-events. The organizers called it the People's Cup. Joel Sronce interviews Katie Giede, a Waffle House worker, People's Cup attendee, and member of an unlikely but vital force in this new coalition of resistance: the Union of Southern Service Workers.

Authorities were luring thousands of unhoused people onto buses with one-way tickets, reportedly requiring them to sign pledges that they would not return. Police were arresting some nine thousand more of the city's poorest. Piles of arrest citations were being discovered, "pre-printed with the designations 'homeless' and 'African-American.'" Elsewhere, city planners were overseeing the razing of the nation's oldest public-housing projects to make way for Centennial Olympic Park and Olympic Village dormitories. Neighborhoods were being destroyed. Despite reassurances from boosters and city governance that the Olympics would provide unprecedented investment that would benefit all Atlantans, decades of displacement and gentrification were the outcome.

With his eyes on the same event that catalyzed the city's attempted cleansing, a white supremacist, anti-gay, anti-choice bigot was planning a pipe-bomb attack, which would lead to multiple deaths and injure more than one hundred. He would plant three more in a far-right terrorist campaign over the next two years, killing again, before finally being apprehended almost seven years after the first bombing.

These are not scenes from some imagined dystopia, nor the agenda of a fascist regime from a bygone era. This was Atlanta, just thirty years ago, ahead of the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games – the last time the city held the world's gaze as a host for a mammoth international sporting event. (The city's mayor, Georgia's governor, and the President of the United States were all Democrats.)

Today, Atlanta is a haven for domestic sporting mega events, hosting three Super Bowls, dozens of Peach Bowls, multiple World Series, MLB All-Star games, NCAA Final Four showdowns, and the list goes on. This summer, however, as with the '96 Olympics, the eight World Cup matches that Atlanta will host will command attention on a global scale.

Accompanying this lineage is the mega-events' inclination to exacerbate the city's already rampant inequality, impacting poor Atlantans the most adversely. As it does across the country and throughout the world, the gluttony of sports infrastructure development becomes a catalyst for displacement and gentrification. Today, it strikes a city already reeling from such upheaval. According to the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, between 1980 and 2020 Atlanta was among the top five cities in loss of its Black residents. Between 2000 and 2012, it had the greatest intensity of gentrification in the country. Of course, public funds diverted toward such infrastructure come at the expense of low-income residents, who are disproportionately Black in Atlanta and across the entire country. What's more, the $90+ million investment in "Cop City" –the infamous police training center constructed against the will of the people on 85 acres of Weelaunee Forest land in DeKalb County – cannot be severed from city officials' concurrent thirst for an expanded police state, the purpose of which keeps "secure" not only the mega-events but the noxious status quo from which their damages spawn and thrive.

As the eyes of the sports world return to Atlanta this summer, conditions are once again ripe for the event to fuel more ​​displacement, repression, and profiteering. Once again, the powerful will fight to use sports as a vehicle for the worst compulsions of late-stage capitalism–albeit fully necessary and wholly inevitable as strategy for urban development.

Yet sports are not only a circus act of the oppressor, a tool to exploit and profit, to bolster toxic nationalism and sportswash, to expel, gentrify, and cleanse. Sports can also be a tool to build and amplify the most urgent struggles of our time. Because when wielded correctly–by and for the people–at the very core of sports culture are community and connection, joy and solidarity. Such was the case in Atlanta on April 19 when the People's Cup kicked off.

The People's Cup began as an effort by Play Fair ATL. As Michael Collins, the group's Coalition Organizer, described in an interview, Play Fair ATL is "a coalition of more than 30 organizations working across housing, labor, immigration, and public safety to ensure that mega-events like the 2026 World Cup benefit residents and protect vulnerable communities."

In addition to its calls to protect human rights and prevent racial discrimination, labor rights are central to Play Fair ATL. As part of its Policy Platform, Play Fair ATL is calling for "The Host Committee and any entities contracting on its behalf [to] adopt a Responsible Contractor Policy for all World Cup-related contracts, ensuring dignified work and fair compensation."

Additionally, among its related demands are:

• Require a minimum wage of $26.10/hour or the prevailing wage (whichever is higher) for non-construction sectors.
• Ensure all workers are properly classified as W-2 employees, not misclassified as 1099 contractors.
• Contractors and subcontractors must protect workers' rights to access fair pay, benefits, and the right to form or join a union.
• Disqualify contractors with recent violations of wage, safety, or other labor laws.

Play Fair ATL's labor demands exist in the context of not only the exploitation surrounding mega-events, but the shameful working and living conditions in Georgia and across the South every day of the year. Poverty in Atlanta, across Georgia, and throughout the South isn't just regrettably rampant. It's sanctioned. According to the MIT Living Wage Calculator, the poverty wage in Atlanta is $7.67, while the federal minimum wage – and therefore Georgia's state wage – has been frozen at $7.25 for nearly 17 years. (Of course, this poverty wage is much more severe for any low-wage workers supporting children and other dependents.) What's more, like nearby South Carolina and North Carolina, Oxfam's "BEST STATES TO WORK IN THE US 2025" report gives Georgia a "0.00" ranking for "Right to organize," due to the state's "right-to-work" law, among other policies that suppress worker and union rights.

For Collins, labor is central to Play Fair ATL's work. He recognized not only the coercive reality of low-wage work in Atlanta, but also the victories of the struggles that those workers are increasingly engaging in.

"The labor organizations are key because they work at the intersection of so many issues – not just labor, but also housing, justice, and immigration," Collins noted. "They speak with authority and have a rich history of organizing to win. It also feels at this moment that labor is having somewhat of a resurgence, and we are grateful to have them on our team. I feel enormously proud of what we have built."

The organizations that were represented at the People's Cup in Atlanta's Candler Park were there not only to share in but to continue building community, joy, and solidarity. The grassroots coalition coalescing around vulnerable communities is currently organizing to build safety strategies that defend them against the forces that will prowl on the boundary lines at this summer's World Cup. Among those organizations was a crucial force of its own: the Union of Southern Service Workers (USSW).

The USSW is a service industry – fast food, restaurant, retail, and care workers – union built by and for low-wage workers in Georgia, as well as in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Alabama. Born from Raise Up the South – the Southern branch of Fight for $15 and a Union – USSW is also part of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). In Atlanta and beyond, they fight for and have recently won important victories towards their demands for dignity, safety, fair pay, consistent scheduling, and collective bargaining.

Around 30 USSW members were present at the People's Cup, including workers from Jimmy John's, Chick-fil-A, Arby's, Waffle House, and more. Among the workers in attendance was Katie Giede, a Waffle House server who has been in the USSW for almost three years. She was recently elected to the union leadership body known as WERC (Workers Elected Representative Council). She is also one of the co-chairs of the union's Waffle House committee, and tri-chair of the May Day committee.

For Giede, joining the USSW came from a specific purpose, as she explained, "I got involved because I was looking at my son and thinking about his future. I don't want him to go through what I went through; I would want him to stand up for his rights. So, that's what I did. I had to model."

When it comes to all service workers across the South standing up for their rights, Giede finds USSW to be filling an important vacuum:

"The development of USSW, I think, is a really inspiring thing, because it was started and is continued by the workers. Originating from the Fight For $15, workers were demanding $15 an hour. Now, we need even more. Some servers like me still make subminimum wages. In the South, there hadn't been representation for service workers. We're still growing our numbers and outreach, and still worker-led, which I think is an awesome thing. One of the struggles is definitely still trying to win a livable wage and just dignity for service workers in general. Another struggle is the miseducation that many have received around unions growing up in the South, and changing the mindset that we should just accept what we're given. MLK Jr. said it best: all labor has dignity. Everybody needs to be able to pay their bills, or take a sick day without it throwing off their whole budget."

Fortunately, the USSW is not the only labor organization among those that make up Play Fair ATL. Joining the coalition, too, are IATSE Local 927 (a Live Entertainment labor union in Atlanta), the Atlanta Federation of Musicians Local 148-462 of the American Federation of Musicians, the Atlanta Rideshare Drivers Union, Georgia AFL-CIO, and more. (They are joined by other organizations such as Poder Latinx, the American Friends Service Committee, Georgia Youth Justice Coalition, and many others.)

The visibility of labor unions in such a coalition in Georgia, or anywhere across the South, matters, as Giede explains:

"The right-to-work laws that are still in place make it harder to have a union – just so workers in Southern states can continue being exploited by these big companies. But in terms of victories in the South, after all of the organizing Waffle House workers did between 2022 and 2024, corporate announced for the first time in 30 years that the servers would be receiving raises across the company. Service workers all across the country are recognizing their power, and each day more and more are standing up and taking action."

However, despite recent victories, for the workers organizing within the USSW, the poverty and worker suppression statistics cited above are not simply data points on a report, but real barriers to their ability to build people power and stable lives. The impacts of this exploitation are especially important to center ahead of the impending FIFA World Cup. According to an article written by organizers and Fair Play ATL Members Mariah Parker and Dominique Grant, "One of our coalition allies, Theresa Kinard, a Waffle House worker and member of the Union of Southern Service Workers, was kicked out of her home so that the landlord could renovate and turn it into an Airbnb in time for the World Cup."

Katie Giede, too, recognizes this reality, as its members' precarity informs the union's work. "This reality means that we have to change the way we look at organizing," she explained. "We have higher turnover rates, so many workers have housing or food insecurity. We have to meet people where they're at. We have to think not only about workplace issues, but community issues as well. We cross-sector organize, so if you lose a job at one service place, you can stay in the union at your next service job. This aspect of our version of community unionism makes it possible to still organize in the South."

What's more, Giede added, it was no coincidence that brought all of these struggles together for the People's Cup:

"At the end of the day, all of these issues are intersecting. If you have housing insecurity, you can't focus at work. Immigrant rights are workers' rights. It's more important now that we speak out and let people know that we know we deserve more. Coming together with our community, with Play Fair ATL, is a way to do that. The opportunity is for every worker coming to our city or working at the games to see themselves in our movement."

Initiated in recognition and support of these overlapping community issues, and just how much they intersect, the People's Cup commenced on a dusty pitch in Candler Park, surrounded by an already verdant forest.

The tournament itself was composed of two divisions, Competitive and Recreational, each with a 3v3 small-sided format and teams of 6-10 players. After a long afternoon of camaraderie, competition, laughter, lamentations, a fair number of falls, and even more dust, the team representing Cuba won the Recreational league, and the team representing Colombia won the Competitive one. The afternoon was complete with the Sabor! Brass Band leading a dance parade through the park.

Organizations that were tabling at the event included the Atlanta Rideshare Drivers Union, Health Students Taking Action Together (H-STAT) Georgia, Poder Latinx, the Georgia AFL-CIO, Women on the Rise ("a grassroots organization led by formerly incarcerated women of color"), the Atlanta Federation of Musicians, and many more.

For the Play Fair ATL organizers, it was easy to choose sports as the medium in which to bring people together. As Giede explained, "Sports are unique to building solidarity because on a sports team, you inherently have to have trust. Similarly, you must have trust in an organizing conversation. It also allows us to reach a different group of people that we wouldn't have been able to meet otherwise. For USSW, we hope to connect with the community and get the education out there about what's going on with the World Cup, workers' rights, and May Day coming up. It's about giving people avenues they can use when it comes to taking action on these issues we're seeing in society."

Looking back on the People's Cup, Giede also noted, "There were a lot of meetings and conversations with the community that happened to pull the People's Cup together. We have similar interests and concerns about the World Cup coming to Atlanta. We wanted to lift up the people who actually keep our communities going, offer a space for that community, and have fun while doing it."

For Play Fair ATL's Coalition Organizer Michael Collins, it seemed the People's Cup achieved this ambition: "I had a moment after we set up where I walked through the space and on the right we had all these beautiful people playing the beautiful game and on the left we had all these great social justice organizations tabling and connecting with kids and community members. It was special."

"The energy was electric," Giede added, "you could feel the joy in the air people had being together. You could pick up on people's passion for the movement and excitement to learn new things. I felt a lot of momentum for our movement."

Of course, a single-day soccer tournament is certainly not powerful enough in the absence of sustained mobilization and struggle against the formidable, often systemic forces that fight to extend Atlanta's lineage of displacement and gentrification, exploitation, and profiteering. But at their best, sports do provide a euphoria of social solidarity, of being bonded to other people, even strangers, however briefly. If that social solidarity can then amplify people's ability to find hope and even alternative visions of the future itself, they represent an important tool in forging a way forward.

"In my view, the future holds dignity for workers in the South," Giede concluded. "The future holds a seat at the table, a voice at our workplaces, more time for ourselves and our families, and less worrying."

If sports, and even soccer in particular, can bring more and more people together, if it can be the catalyst to finding the hope and fortitude to fight tirelessly for a conviction like Giede's – a future of dignity, whatever the odds the South's hideous lineages have brought about – then there is no denying what soccer truly can be at its very core:

The beautiful game.

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Look out for ways to support USSW on social media @Raiseupthesouth. If you're near the chapter cities (Atlanta GA, Columbia SC, Asheville NC, or Durham NC), consider attending a Mass Meeting every third Saturday of the month.

Do the same for Play Fair ATL on Instagram @playfairatl, and sign up on playfairatl.com for updates.