An article in Globalization and Health by Richter M L, Chersich M F, Scorgie F, Luchters S, Temmerman M and Steen R. The authors address the issue of commercial sex in relation to the upcoming football World Cup which will be hosted by South Africa. They argue that laws that criminalise sex work not only compound sex workers’ individual risk for HIV, but also compromise broader public health goals. They suggest that a moratorium on the enforcement of laws that persecute and victimise sex workers during the World Cup period.