“All experts agree”
ZDF sports director speaks plainly about a World Cup boycott
March 27, 2026 – 12:00 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
ZDF defines a clear approach to dealing with the situation in the USA, Canada and Mexico – and leaves a small back door open.
ZDF sports director Yorck Polus has no understanding of the calls for a possible boycott of the World Cup in the USA, Mexico and Canada. “I don’t think it’s particularly promising if sport is supposed to correct something that politics can’t do,” he said in an interview with “Spiegel Online”. One should “not exaggerate the role of sport in this context”.
There is currently no “Plan B or C” for a possible boycott in ZDF’s preparations. “However, if politicians provide framework conditions in this direction, we will adapt to it,” added the 55-year-old.
Polus refers to the failed boycotts of the 1980 and 1984 Olympic Games. At the Games in Moscow, Western states such as the Federal Republic of Germany and the USA initially decided not to take part, while four years later the Soviet Union and the GDR did not take part in Los Angeles. According to the ZDF sports director, “pretty much all experts agree” that the boycotts had “no desired effect.”
At the same time, he made it clear that major events such as the World Cup and the Olympics cannot be apolitical. “It is in the nature of things that countries and their political leadership try to use such events for their own embassies.”
ZDF also wants to reflect this in its reporting. “Sport is the focus, but we will shed light on sports-political issues as well as socio-political ones.” In this regard, the station’s foreign studios and correspondents would play a major role.
