{"id":717758,"date":"2026-01-24T14:44:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T14:44:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/717758\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T14:44:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T14:44:10","slug":"german-football-executive-urges-world-cup-boycott-to-protest-trump-politico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/717758\/","title":{"rendered":"German football executive urges World Cup boycott to protest Trump \u2013 POLITICO"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>G\u00f6ttlich also took aim at FIFA President Gianni Infantino \u2014 widely seen as a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2025\/07\/22\/gianni-infantino-profile-world-cup-00462298\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2025\/07\/22\/gianni-infantino-profile-world-cup-00462298\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">close ally of Trump<\/a> \u2014 accusing football\u2019s leadership of applying double standards.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.eu\/article\/germany-football-captain-far-too-political-qatar-world-cup-joshua-kimmich-lgbtq\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.politico.eu\/article\/germany-football-captain-far-too-political-qatar-world-cup-joshua-kimmich-lgbtq\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Qatar was too political<\/a> for everyone, and now we\u2019re completely apolitical?\u201d he said. \u201cThat really, really bothers me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His comments add momentum to a growing debate in Europe over whether global sport <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/magazine\/2026\/01\/21\/the-12-people-who-hold-trumps-world-cup-in-their-hands-00739998\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/magazine\/2026\/01\/21\/the-12-people-who-hold-trumps-world-cup-in-their-hands-00739998\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">can remain insulated from politics<\/a> as Trump ramps up pressure on allies \u2014 from threats surrounding Greenland to U.S. military action in Venezuela \u2014 while treating the World Cup as a major soft-power trophy of his second term.<\/p>\n<p>Not all governments are receptive. France\u2019s sports minister <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lemonde.fr\/en\/sports\/article\/2026\/01\/21\/french-government-has-no-desire-for-world-cup-boycott-as-it-stands_6749647_9.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said<\/a> this week there was \u201cno desire\u201d in Paris to boycott the tournament, which will be co-hosted by the U.S., Canada and Mexico, arguing that sport should remain separate from politics.<\/p>\n<p>Still, several European football leaders have already <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/magazine\/2026\/01\/21\/the-12-people-who-hold-trumps-world-cup-in-their-hands-00739998\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">shown<\/a> a willingness to wade into political disputes. The president of Norway\u2019s football federation, Lise Klaveness, has repeatedly criticized human rights issues tied to major tournaments, while Ireland\u2019s football association pushed to exclude Israel from international competition before the Gaza peace agreement last year.<\/p>\n<p>G\u00f6ttlich also dismissed concerns that a boycott would unfairly punish players, including St. Pauli\u2019s international stars.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe 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,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"G\u00f6ttlich also took aim at FIFA President Gianni Infantino \u2014 widely seen as a close ally of Trump&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":717759,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5310],"tags":[192795,943,1442,32,2000,299,805,36,1824,1518,678,837,2132,1115,6860,2822,93,49,8518],"class_list":{"0":"post-717758","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-germany","8":"tag-2026-fifa-world-cup","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-competition","11":"tag-donald-trump","12":"tag-eu","13":"tag-europe","14":"tag-foreign-policy","15":"tag-france","16":"tag-germany","17":"tag-gianni-infantino","18":"tag-ireland","19":"tag-israel","20":"tag-mexico","21":"tag-norway","22":"tag-qatar","23":"tag-regions-cohesion","24":"tag-sport","25":"tag-united-states","26":"tag-venezuela"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115950614088807123","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/717758","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=717758"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/717758\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/717759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=717758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=717758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=717758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}