From 1934 to 2026
This is how World Cup boycotts and the debates about them used to happen
There is currently a debate in Germany about a boycott of the World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico – because of Donald Trump’s politics. Here we show how things used to work.
Every four years: There is currently a debate in Germany about a boycott of the World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico. Oke Göttlich, president of the Bundesliga club FC St. Pauli and vice president of the DFB, initiated it: “I’m really wondering when the time is to think about it and talk about it in concrete terms. And for me that time has definitely come,” he told the “Hamburger Morgenpost”.
Politicians such as Jürgen Hardt from the CDU (foreign policy spokesman for the Union parliamentary group in the Bundestag) or Martin Schulz from the SPD (who was once a candidate for chancellor) had already brought the idea into play.
The reason for the debate is the aggressive policies of US President Donald Trump. The brutal raids against migrants in Minneapolis and across the country, the arrest of Venezuelan head of state Nicolás Maduro or the threats in the conflict over Greenland are reason enough for some to consider boycotts.
We’ll show you which boycotts have already taken place in the past – and for what reasons.
Read here what our columnist and chief correspondent Nico Fried thinks about a possible World Cup boycott.
