Germany needs to “think about and concretely discuss” a boycott of Donald Trump’s World Cup, a vice-president of the DFB, the country’s football federation, declared last week. This Monday (26), the president of the federation declared that “there is no debate” on the matter.
Propagated by personalities and politicians on social media in reaction to the American president’s bravado about annexing Greenland last week, the idea of protesting against the American president permeated an interview with Oke Göttlich, president of St.Pauli, on the eve of the classic against Hamburg, last week.
Former journalist, music producer and manager of Germany’s most peculiar team, Göttlich had already spoken out about the issue on social media, asking whether European teams should participate in a tournament “in a country that is attacking Europe indirectly and soon directly”.
“The colleague hasn’t been with us for a long time yet,” declared Bernd Neuendorf, president of the DFB, the highest position in German football, in a public shout at his subordinate. “As a general rule, we discuss these matters first in committees and then form our opinion. Unfortunately, he got ahead of himself.”
Göttlich has been with the federation since the end of last year. He is one of the representatives of the Bundesliga, the country’s professional league, in the entity. The hierarchical issue did not prevent him from criticizing the DFB for remaining “silent, almost speechless”, in the face of Trump’s repeated threats to European countries, from trade tariffs to the invasion of Danish territorial space.
In fact, Neuendorf’s first demonstration on the subject occurred only this Monday, when he participated in a public event and was provoked by journalists. Since last week, the federation had been ignoring requests for comment on a possible boycott, including from Sheet.
The matter even provoked a reaction from the Friedrich Merz government, which pushed the problem back to the DFB. In France, the Minister of Sports and Youth, Marina Ferrari, did not escape the issue, declaring herself against it. “I’m someone who believes in keeping the sport separate [da política]. The World Cup is an extremely important moment for those who love sport.”
Neuendorf took a similar path. “I believe that each fan must decide this for themselves. We have from FIFA the number of people who have purchased tickets for this World Cup. The Germans are among the first,” he said. “Everyone can evaluate for themselves [a questão].”
Appealing to the demand for tickets was also the strategy of Gianni Infantino, president of FIFA, during his visit to Brazil. For him, World Cups “bring people together”.
Days earlier, Göttlich also asked other European federations to reflect, suggesting that UEFA, the confederation that governs football on the continent, could organize a parallel tournament between the teams that joined the boycott. For the St.Pauli boss, Trump is a greater danger, incomparable to Qatar, host of the 2022 World Cup, or Saudi Arabia, which will host the 2034 tournament, countries associated with human rights violations.
Even though they have reprehensible attitudes, “at least they didn’t issue threats or open attacks against Europe”, explained Göttlich, accustomed to maintaining firm positions at the head of his club, a symbol of political and social conflicts.
St.Pauli, which foresees in its statutes the defense of “social responsibility” and “the interests of its partners, employees, fans and volunteers beyond the sporting sphere”, openly supports left-wing flags, such as the protection of refugees and the rights of the LGBT community.
It is perhaps the only professional team in the world that has had the colors of the rainbow printed on its uniform and on a flag in the stadium. They rose from the second division two seasons ago and are in the relegation zone, using a modest budget, as they refuse investors with “suspicious capital”.
“The life of a professional football player is not more important than the lives of many people, in different regions, who are being attacked or threatened directly or indirectly by the host of the World Cup,” Göttlich told the Hamburger Morgenpost newspaper when asked whether a boycott would be fair to his players.
St.Pauli has at least three athletes hoping to go to the World Cup, Australians Jackson Irvine and Connor Metcalfe and Japanese Joel Chima Fujita. For now, an objective that only depends on them on the field.
