World Cup boycott? Trump wins by a landslide

A boycott of the World Cup over Donald Trump’s immigration policies and his contentious international diplomacy? The debate is now out in the open following recent comments from major figures in Germany, in particular, and the public support such remarks have received from former FIFA president Joseph Blatter.

Anti-corruption lawyer and specialist Mark Pieth said just a few days ago in the German newspaper Der Bund that he advised fans to “stay away” from the United States. Blatter backed him on social media. “I think Mark Pieth is right to question this World Cup,” he wrote on social media. The exchange has stirred up attention around the idea of a possible tournament boycott with fewer than six months to go before it kicks off.

The killing of Alex Pretti by several U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Minneapolis has further inflamed a stance that was already heating up after Trump ordered a forced entry into Venezuela to seize and indict its president, Nicolás Maduro, on drug‑trafficking charges.

In truth, the initiative has been driven by Germany, the same country that - along with Norway - was the most combative toward FIFA when the 2022 World Cup was held in Qatar, a nation accused of failing to uphold basic human rights. Oke Göttlich, president of St. Pauli in the Bundesliga, stated that “the time has come to seriously consider and debate a boycott”.

“Entirely misguided”

However, the president of the German Soccer Federation (DFB) - of which St. Pauli is one of the eleven board members - shut the idea down publicly just a few days later. “Within the DFB we are unanimous in our view that this debate is entirely misguided at this time,” Bernd Neuendorf said. Another heavyweight in German soccer, Borussia Dortmund CEO Hans‑Joachim Watzke, echoed the stance: “From my point of view, a World Cup boycott is completely out of place right now.”

France has also dismissed the idea of leaving Trump and FIFA president Gianni Infantino out in the cold, especially given their strategic partnership around the 2026 World Cup. Sports Minister Marina Ferrari made it clear: “At this moment, there is no desire within the ministry to boycott this major and eagerly awaited competition.” French Soccer Federation president Philippe Diallo is on the same page: “I am following the international situation closely, but at this time, a boycott by the French national team is not under consideration.”

In Spain, there is no debate and no public positioning whatsoever. The Spanish Soccer Federation is firmly committed to following FIFA’s lead - particularly with the next World Cup set to be hosted on Spanish soil. Picking a fight with the tournament organizer four years out is something the federation is keen to avoid.

Trump-Infantino

The Trump‑Infantino relationship looms over the entire issue. The FIFA chief awarded the U.S. president an unprecedented Peace Prize during the World Cup draw in Washington, D.C in December. Before that, he allowed Trump to personally bring in his own team - the taskforce responsible for tournament organization. At one point there was even talk that he might reshuffle host cities depending on the political leanings of their mayors.

All of this makes a boycott all but impossible. Such an action has never occurred in a men’s World Cup. The only remotely comparable moments came during the Cold War, when the U.S. boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympics and the Soviet Union responded by boycotting Los Angeles 1984. But that was a different era. The power of global football today, the deep FIFA‑U.S. alignment, and the proximity of the event make it difficult - nearly unthinkable - to envision a boycott of this magnitude.