Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter has backed growing calls to question the 2026 World Cup over Donald Trump’s actions on Greenland and trade tariffs, with European officials comparing it to the 1980 Olympic boycott
Sepp Blatter has lent his support to the mounting campaign urging nations to snub the World Cup in response to Donald Trump’s latest controversial moves.
Tensions are escalating across Europe following Trump’s aggressive stance over Greenland and his threatened trade levies – with the upcoming World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico now firmly in the crosshairs.
Trump has been on the warpath lately, declaring America’s intention to seize control of Greenland following his capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro. His ambitions for Greenland, which remains under Danish sovereignty as an autonomous territory, have sparked friction with European allies and intensified examination of the US president’s agenda.
The USA is set to stage the 2026 World Cup alongside increasingly reluctant partners Canada and Mexico from June 11 to July 19. Calls are mounting for national teams to withdraw from the tournament as a means of applying pressure on Trump.
The proposal has gained traction in Germany’s parliament, whilst Swiss legal expert Mark Pieth, who specialises in financial crime and corruption matters, has also endorsed the boycott suggestion, reports the Mirror.
“If we consider everything we’ve discussed, there’s only one piece of advice for fans: Stay away from the USA!” Pieth warned Swiss publication Der Bund.
“You’ll see it better on TV anyway. And upon arrival, 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.”
Blatter, who held the FIFA presidency from 1998 to 2015, posted on X: “I think Mark Pieth is right to question this World Cup.”
Blatter stepped down from FIFA 11 years ago following a corruption scandal, with football’s governing body now under the leadership of Gianni Infantino, who has been forging close ties with Trump.
The most vocal opposition has emerged from Germany, where Oke Gottlich, vice-president of the German Football Association and president of Bundesliga side St Pauli, drew parallels with the decision to boycott the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow following Russia’s invasion of Afghanistan.
Speaking to a German publication, Gottlich said: “I really wonder when the time will be to think and talk about this concretely. For me that time has definitely come.”
He continued: “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.
“Qatar was too political for everyone and now we’re completely apolitical? That’s something that really, really, really bothers me. As organisations and society we’re forgetting how to set taboos and boundaries and how to defend values.
“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 Bernd Neuendorf (president of the German Football Association) and Gianni Infantino.”
Roderich Kiesewetter, a member of the German parliament’s foreign affairs committee, has warned: “If Trump follows through on his announcements and threats regarding Greenland and starts a trade war with the EU it’s hard for me to imagine European countries participating in the World Cup.”