People are starting to ask if drones are a problem at the FIFA World Cup, with authorities having "neutralized" over 300 at the halfway stage of the competition.
Operators have to face an additional 3-mile ban around the tournament stadiums, and most of the neutralizations have taken place without force, despite the dramatic terminology. It has nevertheless left some operators very upset – and others, like content creators Dorian Carlisle and Hashim Moore very surprised, as they explained in a viral clip.
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Shooting a video for Father's Day using a brand new drone, they had not absorbed all the rules – especially the temporary restrictions around FIFA Fan Zones and Stadiums in place until July 5.
As a result, they ended up being detained by Homeland Security – a lesson to all drone operators as to how swiftly US government agencies are now able to act.
Fortunately for the creators, they were able to convince the police and FBI that they were unaware of the rules and 'only' had to pay a $580 fine to recover their drone.
The FBI has been very clear from the start that enforcement would be serious. Clear, that is, if you were looking. You'll see that the FAA were relying on regional authorities to 'spread the word' using a No Drone Zone Toolkit.
Perhaps that hasn't happened as well as it might?
If you need to know what the exact rules are, you can check the FAA's FIFA World Cup Safety Plan.
Historically, though, despite a lot of news coverage, are these numbers as worrying as they sound? In reality, probably not. The FIFA World Cup is a competition than goes on much longer than others.
The new longer-format World Cup is – as most soccer (football, as it is correctly known) has more gams and lasts 39 days, making it much longer than the last summer Olympics, held in Paris in 2024. Despite being only 17 days of Olympic events there were still over 300 drone incidents and 81 arrests in similarly effective action.
As a drone operator, it is still immensely frustrating to me that people would ignore guidelines put in place for public safety; this kind of thing gives drones a bad name.
In reality, though, it is still a relatively small number of incidents – and it seems some are not quite as transgressive as you might imagine from less drone-friendly news platforms. Keeping it to zero incidents, though, is the only way to prevent future bans, as every single incident is an excuse for anti-drone politicians.
So I'd urge anyone to respect the rules and, if you see a drone breaking the rules, report it to 911, on-site law enforcement or the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI.
Check out my guide to the best camera drones you can buy today
