Interesting read. I dare to hope that some of these countries will step up.
Dave Zirin: A Call Is Rising for Nations to Boycott the Trump World Cup
As marauding state agents fill US streets, a leading German soccer official says countries should consider what was once unthinkable: skipping the 2026 World Cup.
This week, a leading German soccer official, Oke Göttlich, said that the time has come to consider the unthinkable: a boycott of the World Cup to protest Donald J. Trump’s United States. The most watched sporting event on earth is due to be played this year in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, and Göttlich said in a Friday interview, before a federal agent murdered Minneapolis VA nurse Alex Pretti, that “the time has come” to “seriously consider and discuss this.”
Göttlich was responding not only to state agents marauding US streets but also to Trump’s military threats against Greenland and the people of Europe, which have shattered old alliances. However specious these alliances may have been, the alternative that Trump is advancing is a new world order of unchecked US aggression, where the ghoulish Stephen Miller feels free to call for occupation and bloodshed.
Göttlich is no lightweight. He is one of the German federation’s 10 vice presidents and the president of the Bundesliga club St. Pauli. Folks may know St. Pauli as a proudly left-wing, openly anti-fascist team whose fans generally align with what Göttlich is putting forward, although calling for a boycott goes beyond what any European soccer power broker has done.
It moves the “Overton window” as to where this discussion could go. Göttlich was pressed by a reporter about the St. Pauli players on the German national team and whether he felt like he was undercutting their personal and national ambitions. Göttlich replied, “The life of a professional player is not worth more than the lives of countless people in various regions who are being directly or indirectly attacked or threatened by the World Cup host. What were the justifications for the boycotts of the Olympic Games in the 1980s? By my reckoning the potential threat is greater now than it was then. We need to have this discussion.”
It is actually past time to have this discussion. Ten long months ago, I wrote a piece with Jules Boykoff titled, “With ICE Out of Control, How Can the US Cohost the 2026 World Cup?” It was a call for countries outside of the United States to boycott. We did not know at the time that the US would threaten war on European soil, abduct world leaders, blow fisher-folk out of the ocean, kidnap 5-year-olds, and execute US citizens in the streets. And yet even 10 months ago, in the aftermath of the ICE kidnappings of Mahmoud Khalil and Rumeysa Ozturk and the revelations that the US was sending people to labor camps in El Salvador, it was clear that the direction of this country would be toward fascist violence.
Our argument was that countries were being deeply irresponsible by not warning their citizens that traveling to the United States would be perilous and not just for them: players, coaches, and their families would all be at risk. Now even FIFA former chief, that monument to corruption Sepp Blatter, is saying that it could be dangerous for fans to travel to the United States.
But Göttlich is taking it to the next level by challenging nations to stay home. FIFA, the world governing body for soccer, has witnessed its chief, Gianni Infantino, affect a weak and bent posture when in Trump’s presence. During Trump’s second term, Infantino has visited the White House more than any foreign leader and presented Trump with that tacky FIFA Peace Prize. Infantino might feel like a world leader when paraded around by Trump like a hairless poodle, but his subservience to Trump has created an opportunity for Göttlich to be a real leader.
“As organizations and society, we’re forgetting how to set taboos and boundaries, and how to defend values,” Göttlich said. “Taboos are an essential part of our stance. Is a taboo crossed when someone threatens? Is a taboo crossed when someone attacks? When people die? I would like to know from Donald Trump when he has reached his taboo, and I would like to know from [German soccer chief] Bernd Neuendorf and Gianni Infantino.”
While Göttlich cited the 1980 Olympic boycott of Moscow following their invasion of Afghanistan, a far better historical comparison comes from his own backyard: the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Hitler used these games to normalize his Nazi regime and project himself as a leader among world leaders. We can, of course, look back at that Olympics and revel in classic sports moments like Jesse Owens winning four gold medals and ruining Hitler’s dreams of Aryan supremacy.
But the deeper story of those games is the shameful decision of countries to travel to Berlin to play for the entertainment of their fascist hosts in the first place. This is not hindsight. There were explosive debates across the globe, particularly the United States, about competing in a Germany already imprisoning dissidents and Jews, burning books, and building a military arsenal for territorial expansion. Organizations like the NAACP agitated for a US boycott. The Amateur Athletic Union, by a sliver of a vote, ignored their pleas as well as the arguments of others and sent US athletes to compete. These decisions now look obscene.
Göttlich is offering countries a way to avoid being depicted as cowards, quislings, or villains in the eyes of history. Countries should boycott the World Cup games scheduled to be played in the United States. Ten months ago, they needed to do it for the safety of their own fans. Now they must act for the safety of the rest of us.
Open thread.
p.a.
If there’s a WC boycott of the US but the championship is played using Canadian, Mexican, and ? sites, great! If boycotts lead to cancellation, given many nations’ degree of emotional investment, some boycott leaders might be found floating in assorted bodies of water. Possibly from the hand of FIFA, not necessarily fans.
Old Dan and Little Ann
There’s a better chance of Taylor Swift giving me a personal concert than countries actually boycotting the World Cup.
Jeffro
If they can get organized and offer alternative host sites quickly and/or figure out how to double up on the Canadian and Mexican sites…it’s not a boycott of the World Cup, it’s a boycott of Trump/Miller’s United States.
Which I fully support.
Leto
Even though we’re right here in Philly, we’ll boycott it on the simple principle of we can’t afford it, nor were we selected for tickets. Idk, I think about the fact that so many authoritarian states have plenty of athletic events and social events.
FIFA is wholly corrupt and it’s a known, acknowledged thing. Same with the Olympics and F1. More power to the people who boycott, but I don’t think it’ll be that effective. Hopefully I’m wrong and event #s plummet. You can come back later and say, “I told you so!” And I’ll happily concede.
OT- I applied to graduate school and I’m sitting outside the office of the History graduate coordinator for the university applying to. Have a meeting with them in 15. Eeeeeeeeeeeee!
jonas
Spittle-flecked threats to slap a 100% tariff on everything from Germany if they lead a boycott coming in 3…2…1…..
jonas
@Leto: Tickets are going for $1000 and up, I hear. That’s just obscene.
Baud
@jonas:
Supreme Court decision days Friday and two days next week. Maybe one of them will be the tariffs case.
FastEdD
Göttlich has it exactly right. On a related subject, going ahead with an IndyCar race in DC makes me sick to my stomach. I’ve loved the Indy 500 since I was a kid. Indianapolis is where my parents met. I’ve attended the last two in person and it means so much. Not this year. I’m going to the F1 race in Canada which is the same day. Canada will get my tourist dollars instead. Holding an IndyCar race so that Piggy can wave the flag puts the racing on par with WWF fake wrestling. Fuckem. I’ve been to the F1 race in Montreal about 12 years ago and it was a blast. Reasonable ticket prices and lodging. We spent most of the weekend hanging out with locals drinking beer and laughing together, not like the gross events in Miami and Vegas. The new smaller and louder F1 cars should be interesting.
Gloria DryGarden
@Leto: good luck!
catclub
@Old Dan and Little Ann:
Unless they have an idea their nation’s team will underperform anyway, and an ideal excuse arises.
mapaghimagsik
ausgezeichnet!
Kristine
@Leto: Hope it goes well/went well!
scav
Have heard anecdotally that international airline ticket sales are soft / unexpectedly cheap and still available for the World Cup window so that could be interesting even if teams show up.
Socolofi
It’s a tough spot to be in for most countries / fans. And TBH, I don’t think it can be just a protest – the countries need to issue some kind of demands of Trump that make sense, and they know that Trump will happily ignore whatever he agrees to after it’s too late (like when the Cup starts).
That said, I’d love for say Brazil, England, France, and Germany to come together to call out Trump’s internal immigration horror, state that it’s made the US an unsafe place even for tourists, and request a number of changes not just for their citizens but ALL visitors (such as ending the Muslim ban on travel, reducing visa fees for World Cup visits, etc.). I note that Egypt and Iran are both supposed to play in Seattle, so would be nice for the US to allow say Iranian and Egyptian tourists to come and root for their team. If those teams stay home, or say they’ll just play in Canada and Mexico, it gives permission for other teams to follow suit.
JMG
Foxboro, Mass. is where Gillette Stadium is located. It’s supposed to host seven Cup games. BUT, the town fathers are demanding $7 million from FIFA to cover town security costs. FIFA has yet to pony up, so the town has yet to issue the license FIFA needs to hold the games. Town says it won’t either, unless it gets the dough.
Baud
@JMG:
Trump will volunteer ICE to do it.
jonas
@Baud: Wow, that will be, um, interesting if he ends up losing that one. As in, he may actually stroke out and we’ll be done with him. Inshallah.
The idea that Congress intended emergency powers in this case to mean “any fit of pique the President might claim” is ludicrous. But SCOTUS is also packed with corrupt hacks who seem intent on blowing up any remaining elements of balance of power in the Constitution, so who knows?
Socolofi
@JMG: interesting.
FWIW, while most of the stadiums for the World Cup are in the US, there are plenty in both Mexico and Canada that would work pretty easily. For example, the stadium the Edmonton Elks play (CFL) holds ~54K, vs say Lumen Field in Seattle which is ~68K.
rikyrah
Mr. Nobody
@MmisterNobody
Palantir Technologies CEO Alex Karp couldn’t stay seated in his chair as he proudly stated, “We kill people sometimes,” while speaking to shareholders.
Maniac.
x.com/MmisterNobody/status/2023780218650194110?s=20
Juliette Kayyem
@juliettekayyem
I could go on about how no female CEO, dressed as if they just got out of bed and acting like they are on speed while talking to investors of a public company, could get away with this but the truth is nobody should.
x.com/juliettekayyem/status/2024110833089851771?s=20
p.a.
@JMG: Kraft might pony up.
no body no name
@rikyrah:
I’ve seen a female CEO of a bigger firm do worse after wearing a pink pussy hat and then getting a contract to put kids in cages. So no. Women also do this. Constantly. Mostly white women though.
RevRick
I don’t know how godly/heavenly/divine Oke is, but he definitely has that hang-dog, low-level look of depression going for him. He is perfectly suited for Lent, which begins today with Ash Wednesday. “Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
If there’s ever a slogan that is antithetical to the Epstein class, it’s that. They refuse all limits and know no humility. And that sort of attitude likely plays a role in the sadness we feel about what is happening in our country. Because beneath the rage lies sadness and grief.
The world has not turned out as we hoped. Family members, neighbors, co-workers are broken in ways that appall us. Our current national leaders are a horror show of avarice, cruelty, ignorance, and hatred. It’s easy to feel hopeless.
But for us Christians, there’s a flip side to the season of Lent. It’s a journey to hope. It’s a journey to transformation and new beginnings. Lent reminds us that getting to the world we long for is an ongoing process of critique, both of ourselves and the systems of the world which bind us.
Donald Trump represents a systemic sickness and failure. But if we’re honest with ourselves, we will discover that systemic sickness and failure imbedded in ourselves, too. And the way it often plays out is by just going along. We become complicit when we resist self-examination.
The system will never change by our shaking our fist at it. It will only bind us all the more if our only response is to point accusing fingers at others, because the system wins whenever we pat ourselves on the back in the smug assurance that we hold a monopoly on the truth.
This is not to excuse others. We need more accountability. For what does the stance that “I will never cease being angry at Trump voters” accomplish?
Will hardened positions make things better?
Perhaps, what we need to learn is how to become soft. Not soft-headed. But soft in how we relate to ourselves and each other.
I fail at that, all too often. But there’s a voice whispering to me, encouraging me, beckoning me to a better place.
no body no name
@rikyrah:
As someone who’s extended family is mostly women, and they are caramel colored, I ditched feminism once they showed me how it’s really a white woman’s game that leaves them all behind and it’s a giant crock of shit.
Women is as loaded as working class. We usually mean white. And white women are even worse than the white working class. As a society we are starting to figure that out.
Old School
Baud
@no body no name:
If you rate groups like I do based on how they vote, I’m pretty sure that’s not true.
But everyone has their own preferred metric.
rikyrah
@Leto:
good luck :)
Ramona
@no body no name: I read an article some time ago which I cannot locate that until recently in the West, women were conservative. They continue to be so in Eastern Europe.
Liberals in the fifties and sixties tended to be men.
In the US, it was only after women entered paid employment in large numbers that women started to support liberal policies.
I daresay that Black women were the exception to this rule, likely because the survival of their families rested mainly on their shoulders.
trollhattan
Fond memories of Willard’s “binders of women.”
After Ed O’Keefe (CBS) asked Leavitt this: “In his statement about Jesse Jackson, the president said “Despite the fact that I am falsely inconsistently called a racist by the scoundrels and lunatics on the radical left, Democrats all, it was always my pleasure to help Jesse along the way.” Where or when does the president believe he has been falsely called racist?”
mediaite.com/media/youre-kidding-right-karoline-leavitt-gobsmacked-after-reporter-asks-for-examples-…
Here’s hoping O’Keefe still has a job by Friday.
Baud
@trollhattan:
I’ll happily call Trump a racist.
WaterGirl
We seem awfully busy these days carefully sorting various sets of people into grievance groups. A lot of people are more than one thing. Black and female. White and voted for Kamala.
We talk about a big tent, but we are spend a lot of time these days drawing little boxes on the floor of the tent to separate people into groups, acceptable and not acceptable. What if you care about the people in Palestine and the Jewish people?
We aren’t fiddling while Rome burns; we are sorting and other-ing.
WaterGirl
@trollhattan: Don’t leave us hanging! :-)
Did she answer?
Belafon
@trollhattan: “the internet of radical Democrats” Sounds like an interesting place.
Baud
@Belafon:
Sounds like a rotating tag.
trollhattan
@WaterGirl:
A hairball was hacked up, on demand.
x.com/TrumpWarRoom/status/2024199820697649399
Slight variation on “I’m racist? I’m not the racist, you’re the racist. Racist.”
WaterGirl
@trollhattan: Sorry I clicked. Lies, lies, and more bullshit.
jonas
Obviously trying to get fired.
HopefullyNotCassandra
A boycott will suck for LA.
gene108
Reschedule all the matches in Canada and Mexico and leave the U.S. out of it.
WTFGhost
@Baud: Man, they announce their decisions? I thought they were like constipation, the decision just, you know, arrives. I mean, given the soi disant “reasoning” of some of their decisions, and all.
@catclub: Don’t be so mean! I’m sure Taylor Swift gives out the occasional personal concert, even to people whose countries don’t underperform in soccer.
Kayla Rudbek
@RevRick: have you read anything about the TESCREAL idea that many of these Silicon Valley techbros are following? Warning you need a strong stomach, Curtis Yarvin and Peter Thiel are involved (Charlie Stross has discussed this on his blog).
I specifically went to Mass at work yesterday for Ash Wednesday because it was something that these techbros would only do for performance, not for the meaning and the connection with the community (living and dead) and two thousand years of tradition. I was disappointed that they didn’t use the “remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return” verse for the distribution of the ashes.
(Also, the Protestant male chaplain at work absolutely sets my back up and my teeth on edge; I seriously think someone needs to issue a subpoena for his hard drives at work and home)
Paul in KY
@Baud: Me too!