Sepp Blatter may not be the most principled soccer official the world has seen, but his support for a proposed boycott of the upcoming Fifa Soccer World Cup highlights the rising global tide of anger against the Trump administration.
The event, which kicks off on June 11, is being co-hosted by the US, Mexico and Canada. South Africa will be taking part for the first time since we hosted the event in 2010.
The former Fifa chief voiced his views after a comment by Swiss anti-corruption lawyer Mark Pieth, who chaired the independent governance committee’s oversight of Fifa reform between 2011 and 2013.
“If we consider everything we’ve discussed, there’s only one piece of advice for fans: Stay away from the USA! … Fans should expect that if they don’t please the officials, they’ll be put straight on the next flight home. If they’re lucky,” Pieth said.
Blatter quoted Pieth in an X post, saying: “I think Mark Pieth is right to question this World Cup.”
Critics in soccer-loving nations including Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, the UK and South Africa have challenged the ethics of competing on US soil. They have voiced concern about the political environment there, specifically a violent immigration crackdown which has resulted in the killing of two Americans by federal agents in Minneapolis, Trump’s expansionist foreign policy towards Greenland and Venezuela; travel bans; and broad-based tariffs on the rest of the world.
“By my reckoning, the potential threat is greater now than it was then. We need to have this discussion.
— German Football Association vice president Oke Göttlich
Some are calling for countries to take a stand by withdrawing completely from the tournament.
Last week German Football Association vice president Oke Göttlich called for a discussion on the issue, referencing the US-led boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. “By my reckoning,” Göttlich said, “the potential threat is greater now than it was then. We need to have this discussion.”
There is also unease at the cosy relationship between Trump and Fifa president Gianni Infantino, who in December ridiculously awarded Trump a newly created Fifa peace prize after the US president lost out on the Nobel. “This is your peace prize,” he gushed. “There is also a beautiful medal for you that you can wear everywhere you want to go.” Infantino also announced last July that Fifa had opened an office in Trump Tower in New York City.
So, we cannot look to the soccer body to do the honourable thing.
While dumping the US as a co-host at this stage appears unlikely, a fan boycott of US matches would hit hard. Empty stadiums would be embarrassing for a country trying to flex its muscles as a world superpower. The economic boost that cities and local businesses are counting on would disappear in a puff and the event would be remembered for decades as a massive flop.
Yet it would be well justified. There are not many ways to get a clear shot at Goliath, but the world has an opportunity to give the US a taste of its own medicine, to show Agent Orange and his crew that their bully tactics and disregard for global ethics and integrity will not go unchallenged.
After all, bad things are happening in America.
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