Europe’s Trump Card: A New Trade Weapon

Photo: ap/scanpix/leta

Europe appears to be considering a boycott of the 2026 World Cup as extreme pressure on Donald Trump over his threats against Greenland, writes Politico.

The 2026 World Cup, which will be held in the United States, Canada and Mexico, could become an instrument of political pressure on the White House. As the dispute over Greenland escalates, European politicians appear to see the tournament as leverage for US President Donald Trump. The boycott of the World Cup by European teams was “a blow to the most painful place” for the American leader.

“Leverage is a currency for Trump, and he clearly wants the World Cup,” said Adam Hodge, a former US National Security Council official during the Biden administration.

According to him, European participation is one of the few factors that the White House could really take seriously. The quadrennial World Cup is seen as an important element of Trump’s soft power in his second term, which is on par with the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

At the same time, the governments of European countries emphasize that decisions about participation or boycott in major sports events are beyond their competence. German State Secretary for Sports Christiana Schenderlein told AFP that such decisions are made only by national sports associations. A similar position was expressed in France, where the authorities stressed that they did not intend to interfere in the question of the participation of the national team.

In reality, this means that the fate of the World Cup may rest in the hands of several football officials representing European countries that have already qualified for the tournament. Among these figures are the president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation, Rafael Luzan, the head of the English Football Association, Debbie Hewitt, and the chairman of the Royal Dutch Football Association, Frank Paauw.

According to observers, their possible solution may prove to be a more effective leverage than the EU’s trade instruments, including the so-called trading base. “The World Cup would not be sporting without the European teams,” said Miguel Maduro, the former chairman of FIFA’s governing committee. He noted that, with the exception of Brazil and Argentina, almost all of the world’s top teams represent Europe, and their absence would be a severe financial blow to FIFA.

The idea to boycott World Cups has already arisen before. In 2018, a boycott of the tournament in Russia after the occupation of Crimea was discussed, and in 2022, a boycott of the championship in Qatar due to human rights violations. However, none of these scenarios ever materialized. The last significant example of a sports boycott at the national level is the 1980 and 1984 Cold War Olympics.

However, as European politicians note, the possible seizure of Greenland by the United States could put Europe in a situation that has no modern historical analogues and force it to seek unprecedented pressure measures.

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