According to Minister of State for Sports Christiane Schenderlein (CDU), the federal government has spoken out against a boycott of the 2026 World Cup, which is mainly taking place in the USA.
“A boycott is out of the question for us”said the CDU politician in an interview with the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”. This was agreed upon within the Federal Cabinet. As justification, Schenderlein referred to the German government’s foreign policy line towards the USA. “Sport must not be exploited for this purpose”she said. In addition, the World Cup is not only taking place in the United States, but also in Canada and Mexico. In case of doubt, the DFB would have to score anyway, “because we respect the autonomy of sport”.
Divine: “Football doesn’t work in a test tube”
Oke Göttlich, President of FC St. Pauli and Vice President of the DFB, had previously initiated a debate about the German team staying away from the tournament. He said on ZDF on Tuesday before his club’s cup game in Leverkusen: “I am grateful that there is close coordination with the government about the extent to which it is ultimately okay from a European perspective to give tendencies that are destroying democracy a sporting stage in the summer.” The football “doesn’t work in a test tube”said Divine. You can’t keep quiet about the topic. Last week, Göttlich said in the Sportschau that, given the current situation, he advised not to travel to the World Cup.
DFB President Bernd Neuendorf and DFL boss Hans-Joachim Watzke described the debate as misguided and ruled out a boycott. The DFB executive committee met for a meeting on Friday. In a statement it said: “The DFB Presidium agrees that sports policy debates should be conducted internally and not publicly.” A boycott is “not an issue at the moment”one believes “to the unifying power of sport”.
Political situation in the USA fuels debate
The background to the discussion is the conditions in the USA with Trump’s actions against immigrants, his threats to take over Greenland, to annex co-host Canada or the ongoing attacks on existing political and democratic structures as well as on the freedom of science, culture and the media.
The Foreign Office adjusted its travel and safety advice for the USA. In view of the violent operations by US immigration authorities ICE, the federal government advises people to avoid large gatherings of people where violence could occur.
A boycott was rare – and it would have consequences
Since the Second World War, no World Cup has been boycotted by a national association for political reasons. If a team was absent, it was for economic reasons or because of anger over sporting and sporting policy decisions.
A boycott would initially only result in a fine of a maximum of 500,000 Swiss francs for the DFB, but theoretically the FIFA disciplinary chamber could also decide to exclude it from subsequent tournaments.
There is a lot of money at stake for German football
There’s also a lot of money at stake for German football: the new world champion will collect $50 million in prize money. For the clubs, their own perception in the USA would be damaged – which is currently considered the most promising growth market abroad.
