Amid international tension and domestic political turmoil, calls for a boycott of the 2026 World Cup, which the United States will co-host with Canada and Mexico, have gained momentum.
These calls have not gained significant support in important circles. So far, the discussion about a boycott has come from critics of President Donald Trump and his tactics and policies, and not from high-ranking football managers or government authorities — those who actually have the power to empty the tournament.
The idea, however, will persist and may resurface in the coming months, depending on further actions by Trump and their international repercussion. So it’s worth looking at as the World Cup approaches, even if a full-scale boycott seems unlikely.
Why is a boycott of the World Cup being discussed?
The idea has been raised occasionally throughout the first year of Trump’s second term, mainly by fans who oppose his international approach or his aggressive stance on immigration.
But the discussion gained momentum this month when Trump said, more forcefully than before, that the United States should govern Greenland, the Arctic territory under Denmark’s control.
Trump initially refused to rule out military intervention to take Greenland and threatened to impose new tariffs on European countries that resisted his demands. He has since backed away from both threats, but as they have provoked strong responses from NATO members, several prominent voices have raised the possibility of retaliation by boycotting the World Cup.
Who is talking about boycotting the World Cup?
In addition to fans and commentators, a significant portion of the discussions come from two important NATO member countries: Germany and France.
In Germany, Oke Göttlich, president of Bundesliga club St. Pauli and one of the 11 vice-presidents of the German football federation, made news when he told a local newspaper that “the time has come” to “seriously consider and discuss” a boycott. He reiterated and clarified his comments in an interview with The Athletic this week.
But federation president Bernd Neuendorf quickly rejected the suggestion, saying the federation considered it “completely misguided at this point.” He noted that Göttlich’s comments were “a statement from a single representative” who “has not been with us for a long time.”
Several other German football officials echoed Neuendorf’s position.
How would a boycott of the World Cup materialize?
Any total boycott of the 2026 World Cup — that is, teams refusing to participate — would almost certainly have to come from an aligned coalition of national governments.
The vast majority of players will certainly want to play. Their football federations, and virtually every entity with a financial interest in the World Cup, will want to participate.
The only people who could organize and enforce a boycott would be high-ranking politicians, mainly heads of state, who would see the World Cup as an instrument of soft power.
Has there ever been a boycott of the World Cup?
A long time ago, there were nations that refused to participate in World Cups —or the Qualifiers— for various reasons.
In 1934, Uruguay chose not to travel to the second World Cup in Italy, reportedly because several European teams (including Italy) had chosen not to travel to Uruguay for the inaugural tournament four years earlier.
In 1964, two years before the 1966 World Cup, all African teams withdrew from the Qualifiers in protest against FIFA (International Football Federation), which had allocated only one combined place for all teams from Africa, Asia and Oceania.
But there has never been a boycott of the World Cup by multiple qualified teams for purely political reasons. The only real precedent is the US-led boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics.
How did the 1980 Olympic boycott happen?
In late 1979, seven months before the Moscow Games, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan — an act that US President Jimmy Carter said “could pose the most serious threat to world peace since World War II.”
The following week, U.S. State Department officials prepared a lengthy document outlining possible responses to the invasion and wrote that withdrawing the Summer Olympics from Moscow would be a “serious blow to Soviet international prestige.”
They noted that a boycott “would harm American athletes far more than it would affect Soviet policies or actions.” But after a heated debate, Carter decided to move forward. A few weeks later he declared, “Neither I nor the American people would support sending an American team to Moscow with Soviet invasion troops in Afghanistan.”
The Carter administration launched a multifaceted campaign to pressure Olympic officials and foreign governments to join the boycott. The athletes, of course, resisted fiercely.
The White House, sensing dissent, indirectly threatened to revoke the U.S. Olympic Committee’s tax exemption. In April, Carter said, “If legal action is necessary to enforce the decision not to send a team to Moscow, then I will take it.”
Ultimately, only the committee could formally decline an Olympic invitation, but Carter left delegates with few options. At an April meeting in Colorado, they voted 1,604 to 797 in favor of boycotting the Olympics.
More than 60 other nations have followed the United States’ example. But 80, including many European powers, defied the American campaign, went to Moscow and competed. The Games took place, although weakened and with less exposure in the international media.
Will fans or diplomats boycott?
A boycott of the World Cup is extremely unlikely. The most likely scenario is that, whether in response to geopolitical threats or internal actions, certain groups or individuals decide not to attend the tournament.
Three Lions Pride, for example, a support group for the LGBTQ+ community in England, said earlier this month that it will not have a visible presence at the 2026 World Cup; among the reasons are “free speech concerns” and “overzealous policing and law enforcement” in the United States.
Even former FIFAA president Joseph Blatter wrote in a post on social platform X that fans should “stay away from the USA!”
This is similar to what happened in 2018 and 2022, when there were widespread objections to hosts Russia and Qatar for a variety of reasons.
Alternatively, a country could choose not to send diplomats, as the United States and others did for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
But their football teams, so far, will almost certainly be present.
