The next major international sporting event, the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup, hosted jointly by the United States, Canada and Mexico, is already drawing international scrutiny. There have been calls to boycott it.
Those calls were amplified after US President Donald Trump threatened to annex Greenland from Denmark, prompting soccer officials in Germany and France to raise the possibility of their countries boycotting the tournament.
Both countries’ soccer federations have pushed back against calls for a boycott for now. But recent events in Minneapolis have heightened concerns about the United States’ role in hosting the tournament and what that could mean for visitors. Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter — suspended by FIFA in 2015 and replaced by current FIFA president Gianni Infantino amid a corruption scandal he was later acquitted of — has also voiced concerns about the marginalisation of political opponents and violent crackdowns on immigration in the United States.
The World Cup has historically brought together fans from across the world. Many rely on tourist visas, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement is expected to be responsible for security at the tournament. The agency’s director has declined to commit to pausing operations during the World Cup. Rights groups have raised concerns about whether visitors could be detained and handed to immigration authorities if they engage in actions deemed critical of the US government.
Boycotts at major events
In the history of international sporting events, boycotts have been far less common than bans. Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Hungary and the Ottoman Empire were not invited to the 1920 Olympic Games after losing the First World War. South Africa was invited to the 1964 Tokyo Games but saw the invitation rescinded because of apartheid, and only rejoined Olympic competition in 1992. Rhodesia’s invitation to the 1972 Games was also withdrawn after its government enacted a white supremacist regime.
Notably, both rescinded invitations came after other African nations threatened to boycott the Olympics if South Africa and Rhodesia were allowed to participate.
There were also partial boycotts at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. Several nations announced diplomatic boycotts to protest China’s treatment of Uyghur Muslims, preventing many government officials from attending in an official capacity while still allowing athletes to compete. Russia has been banned from most major international sports competitions since it invaded Ukraine in 2022.
The most famous boycott of a major sporting event occurred in 1980 ahead of the Summer Olympics in Moscow after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. More than 60 countries boycotted those Games, led by the US. In response, 19 countries boycotted the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, led by the Soviet Union and other Eastern bloc states.
Yet there has never been a World Cup boycott by qualified teams on political grounds.
In 1934, Uruguay chose not to travel to the second-ever World Cup in Italy because several European teams, including Italy, had declined to travel to Uruguay for the inaugural tournament in 1930.
There were also calls for Norway to boycott the 2022 Men’s World Cup in Qatar, but the team did not qualify.
How likely is a boycott?
So far, no leaders of major soccer federations have endorsed calls for their country to boycott the tournament, despite pressure from some executives and politicians. It would likely require decisive action from a federation head, similar to the move by U.S. President Jimmy Carter before the 1980 Moscow Olympics, for a country to withdraw.
Moreover, given the relationship Trump has built with Infantino, the impact of a boycott — or credible threats of one — on US immigration policy or hosting arrangements would probably be limited. That makes a boycott an unpopular step that may not achieve the goals of countries considering it.
Infantino attended Trump’s inauguration and controversially awarded him FIFA’s inaugural Peace Prize. More recently, he signed an agreement with Trump’s Board of Peace on behalf of FIFA.
Infantino was also a staunch defender of Qatar’s construction practices amid heavy human rights criticism and was willing to alter FIFA policies at short notice to accommodate Qatar’s demands for limited alcohol sales during the 2022 Men’s World Cup.
Trump could still escalate geopolitical tensions enough to renew boycott discussions. For now, however, a boycott appears unlikely, and even credible threats would probably do little to shift Infantino and Trump from the current course.
The Conversation