In the seemingly interminable week since Trump stormed through Davos, trampling all over international norms with his threats to take Greenland (or “Iceland,” depending on the day) by force, our allies have had to reckon with an existential threat to the established world order and how to deal with it. It was the latest in a string of geopolitical outbursts from the guy who extorted his way into taking someone else’s Nobel Peace Prize.
And it’s got Europe thinking about how to respond. An interesting countermeasure has been discussed in small pockets of the continent, and the chatter is getting louder.
Boycott the World Cup.
The idea is gaining traction. French and British politicians have circulated petitions. A Dutch petition got about 140,000 signatures. The VP of the German Football Association pitched the idea last week. Two dozen European soccer association leaders talked about it in Budapest. A long time coach of African nations’ teams signaled his support.
Leaders pointed to the U.S.-led boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics after Russia invaded Afghanistan. Soft power isn’t a foreign language.
The U.S. is hosting 78 out of 104 FIFA World Cup matches this summer. That’s a lot of leverage. Here’s how the rest of the world could use it.
FIFA has more member states than the UN. It’s the largest sports organization in the world and The World Cup is the most watched event in the world. An entire tournament gets about 5 billion views (the Super Bowl could never).
Landing a bid to host the World Cup is a years-long process, and winning is a marker of international legitimacy. Trump knows it, which is why he’s been bragging about personally “getting” the World Cup since the U.S. secured the bid alongside Canada and Mexico in 2018. It was so important to him he made it one of the greatest hits on his broken record reelection speeches in 2024.
The economic upside for hosting a World Cup is enormous. The World Trade Organization projects the tournament could generate $30.5 billion for the U.S.
There’s a lot to lose. Like I said, leverage.
It wouldn’t be an overreaction for the rest of the world to boycott the tournament. Trump’s caused seemingly innumerable international incidents since taking office a year ago. (ONE YEAR AGO.) Any one of them could justify a response.
Besides the most recent Greenland situation, there was the military raid on Venezuela and kidnapping of their President, Nicolas Maduro and his wife.
Then there was, “Cuba’s next. Also Colombia. Also Mexico.”
Sending a “flotilla” no one asked for towards Iran.
Airstrikes on fishing boats in the Caribbean. Airstrikes in Nigeria.
Threatening to annex Canada. And Panama.
Then there was the pause on U.S. visa applications from 75 countries, many of them World Cup qualifiers. All that, and a proposal to scrutinize foreign tourists’ social media on arrival has sports officials and commentators legitimately worried.
And nevermind the sickening anti-immigrant sentiment broadcast around the world via images and video coming out of Minneapolis. On top of that, the administration refused to rule out ICE raids at World Cup games during a press conference in December.
Trump’s hardly rolling out the welcome mat for World Cup fans. If he pisses them off enough to drive them away, it will be a huge blow to a tourism sector that’s already been decimated.
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