{"id":93338,"date":"2026-03-24T17:07:22","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T17:07:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pulse-z.eu\/the-2026-world-cup-a-game-beyond-politics-or-deeply-within-it\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T17:07:43","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T17:07:43","slug":"het-wk-2026-een-spel-boven-de-politiek-of-juist-er-middenin-verweven","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pulse-z.eu\/nl\/het-wk-2026-een-spel-boven-de-politiek-of-juist-er-middenin-verweven\/","title":{"rendered":"Het WK 2026: een spel boven de politiek, of juist er middenin verweven?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It is considered one of the largest sporting events in the world: the men\u2019s FIFA World Cup.
\nDuring the summer months of World Cup years, entire nations hold their breath to support their national teams\u2014and are also scrutinising the host country.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

This year, the World Cup will take place in North America\u2014specifically in Canada, Mexico, and, currently facing sharp criticism, the United States.
\nHow neutral can football really be? And how neutral is football when the President of FIFA awards a peace prize to the U.S. President\u2014and continues to defend this decision even after the abduction of Venezuela\u2019s President Maduro and the numerous tariffs and threats directed at Greenland and the EU?<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The President of the United Nations General Assembly and former German chancellor candidate Annalena Baerbock summed up the issue in an interview with the German broadcaster RTL<\/a>: <\/span><\/span><\/span>\u201cIf there is not a basic set of rules that everyone adheres to, then a Football World Cup cannot function.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

What had previously been discussed in Germany, a major football nation, as a potential boycott of the World Cup is now also being debated in the European Parliament. In February 2026, a group of 19 Members of the European Parliament addressed an open letter to UEFA<\/a>:
\n\u201cIn recent years, especially during the Trump administration, the United States has adopted policies and used rhetoric that raise serious concerns about respect for international law, democratic standards and the principle of self-determination.\u201d
\nThey continued:
\n\u201cSuch rhetoric, whether presented as negotiation or provocation, reflects a style of power politics that contradicts the values that football is meant to represent. (\u2026) A tournament that reaches billions of people cannot be separated from its political context. Each hosting decision sends a message about what the international football community is willing to accept or overlook.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

They called for public criticism of FIFA, citing the examples of Venezuela and Greenland in relation to the awarding of the FIFA Peace Prize to Donald Trump.
\nThe EU parliamentarians also demanded that a discussion on possible consequences for the United States\u2014despite being an ally\u2014be enabled, and they did not rule out a potential boycott of the World Cup.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Europe provides 16 of the 48 participating teams, accounting for slightly less than half, and represents a major\u2014if not the largest\u2014market, with expected revenues exceeding \u20ac30 million in 2026. European nations such as France, Germany, Spain, Italy, and England make up more than half of all countries that have ever won the World Cup.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The debate over a possible boycott strongly recalls the discussions surrounding the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, which centered on human rights violations.
\nIt raises the broader question of how politically neutral football can be\u2014and whether European teams should travel to a country that has repeatedly issued threats against the sovereignty of its allies.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In a statement released in January<\/a>, the German Football Association said:
\n\u201cThe DFB Executive Committee agrees that sport-political debates should be conducted internally and not publicly. A boycott of the 2026 World Cup in the USA, Mexico, and Canada is (…) currently not an issue.\u201d
\nThey added:
\n\u201cWe believe in the unifying power of sport and in the global impact that a Football World Cup can have. Our goal is to strengthen this positive force\u2014not to hinder it.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The captain of the German national team, Joshua Kimmich, expressed a similar view:
\n\u201cI am no longer taking part in political discussions,\u201d Kimmich said<\/a>, referring to the controversy during the 2022 Qatar World Cup surrounding the One Love armband worn by goalkeeper Manuel Neuer. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen that it is not effective when players become too politically outspoken.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

However, the debate extends far beyond Germany. Public opinion in countries such as Denmark, France, and Norway is also critical of participation. One of the prominent critics supporting a boycott is Lise Klaveness, President of the Norwegian Football Federation (NFF). <\/span><\/span><\/span>Yet even she admits<\/a>: \u201cWe do not believe that an isolated boycott by the NFF is an effective means of creating lasting change. In these times, it is particularly important that European countries speak with one voice and stand united.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Withdrawing more than 30 days before the tournament would cost 250,000 Swiss francs; withdrawing later would result in a fine of 500,000 Swiss francs. Additional disciplinary measures could include exclusion from future FIFA competitions\u2014potentially affecting participation in events such as the 2027 Women\u2019s World Cup in Brazil.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Such penalties could potentially be avoided if multiple countries were to boycott the tournament together. Nevertheless, an overall boycott remains unlikely, as FIFA expects revenues of around nine billion US dollars in 2026, which are distributed to the national associations.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Major leagues also exert influence over their national associations and are unlikely to support a boycott. The United States represents one of the most promising growth markets for competitions such as the Premier League and the Bundesliga.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Recent developments in the ongoing Iran war have further strained relations between the United States and its European allies.
\nAlthough a boycott by European football associations remains highly unlikely, attention is now turning to viewership: European audiences could also send a clear message through a consumer boycott and declining viewing figures.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It is considered one of the largest sporting events in the world: the men\u2019s FIFA World Cup. During the summer months of World Cup years, entire nations hold their breath to support their national teams\u2014and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2519,"featured_media":92761,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[565,628],"tags":[27860,27861,27862,1961,27863,27864,1737,27865,1739,27866,23806,27867,915,27868],"post_formats":[18],"coauthors":[21517],"class_list":["post-93338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-algemeen","category-de-puntjes-op-de-i-zetten","tag-mexico","tag-canada","tag-dfb","tag-europe-nl","tag-fifa","tag-football","tag-germany-nl","tag-national-teams","tag-politics-nl","tag-soccer","tag-sports","tag-uefa","tag-usa-nl","tag-world-cup","post_formats-articles"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pulse-z.eu\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pulse-z.eu\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pulse-z.eu\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pulse-z.eu\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2519"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pulse-z.eu\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93338"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.pulse-z.eu\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93338\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":93340,"href":"https:\/\/www.pulse-z.eu\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93338\/revisions\/93340"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pulse-z.eu\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pulse-z.eu\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pulse-z.eu\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pulse-z.eu\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93338"},{"taxonomy":"post_formats","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pulse-z.eu\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_formats?post=93338"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pulse-z.eu\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=93338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}