{"id":430835,"date":"2026-01-24T19:19:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T19:19:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/430835\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T19:19:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T19:19:11","slug":"2026-world-cup-boycott-german-soccer-executive-is-calling-for-talks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/430835\/","title":{"rendered":"2026 World Cup boycott? German soccer executive is calling for talks"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2026 World Cup<\/a> is just months away as the United States \u2014 alongside Canada and Mexico \u2014 is preparing to host soccer’s foremost competition. However, German soccer federation executive Oke G\u00f6ttlich is calling for talks about a boycott amidst U.S. President Donald Trump<\/a>‘s recent actions.<\/p>\n

Trump as stirred some outrage in Europe recently with his insistence on acquiring Greenland, a territory currently owned by Denmark. Trump has further strained relations with Europe as well by threatening to impose tariffs<\/a> on eight European nations in his effort to pursue Greenland.<\/p>\n

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“I really wonder when the time will be to think and talk about this [a boycott] concretely,” G\u00f6ttlich told the Hamburger Morgenpost newspaper. “For me, that time has definitely come.”<\/p>\n

The United States is scheduled to host 78 of the World Cup’s 104 total matches. Here’s how G\u00f6ttlich’s comments could impact the upcoming tournament:<\/p>\n

1 \/ 7<\/p>\n

Photos show Trump and celebs gather for 2026 World Cup draw<\/p>\n

US Draw assistant Shaquille O’Neal poses on the red carpet upon arrival to attend the draw for the 2026 FIFA Football World Cup taking place in the US, Canada and Mexico, at the Kennedy Center, in Washington, DC, on December 5, 2025.<\/p>\n

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1 \/ 7<\/p>\n

Photos show Trump and celebs gather for 2026 World Cup draw<\/p>\n

US Draw assistant Shaquille O’Neal poses on the red carpet upon arrival to attend the draw for the 2026 FIFA Football World Cup taking place in the US, Canada and Mexico, at the Kennedy Center, in Washington, DC, on December 5, 2025.<\/p>\n

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2 \/ 7<\/p>\n

Photos show Trump and celebs gather for 2026 World Cup draw<\/p>\n

Chief Football Officer of FIFA Jill Ellis poses on the red carpet upon arrival to attend the draw for the 2026 FIFA Football World Cup taking place in the US, Canada and Mexico, at the Kennedy Center, in Washington, DC, on December 5, 2025.<\/p>\n

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3 \/ 7<\/p>\n

Photos show Trump and celebs gather for 2026 World Cup draw<\/p>\n

Pierluigi Collina, Chairman of the FIFA Referees Committee, attends the FIFA World Cup 2026 Official Draw at John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on December 5, 2025 in Washington, DC.<\/p>\n

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4 \/ 7<\/p>\n

Photos show Trump and celebs gather for 2026 World Cup draw<\/p>\n

Red Carpet Host Eli Manning and Draw Assistant Shaquille O’Neal arrive on the red carpet ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2026 Draw.<\/p>\n

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5 \/ 7<\/p>\n

Photos show Trump and celebs gather for 2026 World Cup draw<\/p>\n

Former footballer Blaise Matuidi arrives on the red carpet ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2026 Draw.<\/p>\n

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6 \/ 7<\/p>\n

Photos show Trump and celebs gather for 2026 World Cup draw<\/p>\n

Turkey coach Vincenzo Montella arrives on the red carpet ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2026 Draw.<\/p>\n

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7 \/ 7<\/p>\n

Photos show Trump and celebs gather for 2026 World Cup draw<\/p>\n

Javier Pastore poses on the red carpet prior to the FIFA World Cup 2026 Official Draw at John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on December 5, 2025 in Washington, DC.<\/p>\n

Are others in favor of a boycott?<\/p>\n

Not currently.<\/p>\n

French sport minister Marina Ferrari said earlier this week that they were not considering a boycott<\/a>, but did not rule the possibility out entirely if the situation with Greenland escalates. “At the moment we are speaking, there is no desire from the ministry to boycott this major, much-anticipated competition,” Ferrari commented on Tuesday. “That said, I am not prejudging what might happen.”<\/p>\n

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G\u00f6ttlich compares potential boycott to U.S.’s 1980 Olympics boycott<\/p>\n

There has been a boycott of the World Cup before. In 1980, the United States boycotted the Olympics in the Soviet Union after the country invaded Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

G\u00f6ttlich claimed, “By my reckoning the potential threat is greater now than it was then. We need to have this discussion.”<\/p>\n

The Germans were also displeased about 2022 World Cup host Qatar.<\/p>\n

“Qatar was too political for everyone and now we’re completely apolitical? That’s something that really, really, really bothers me.” He continued, “As organizations and society, we’re forgetting how to set taboos and boundaries, and how to defend values.”<\/p>\n

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When is the 2026 World Cup scheduled to start?<\/p>\n

The 2026 World Cup is set to begin on June 11 with two Group A matches. Mexico will take on South Africa at 3 p.m. ET, and South Korea’s opponent has yet to be determined for their 10 p.m. match.<\/p>\n

The United States’ first game will be on June 12, a match against Paraguay that is set to start at 9 p.m. ET.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 2026 World Cup boycott? German FA exec wants talks amidst Trump actions<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2026 World Cup is just months away as the United States \u2014 alongside Canada and Mexico \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":430836,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[21900,21898,75691,49,48,8267,1376,179503,1072,9340,17267,561,5685,18262,82,14094,13009],"class_list":["post-430835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-2022-world-cup","tag-2026-world-cup","tag-boycott","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-denmark","tag-donald-trump","tag-gottlich","tag-mexico","tag-paraguay","tag-qatar","tag-soccer","tag-south-africa","tag-south-korea","tag-sports","tag-the-united-states","tag-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=430835"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430835\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/430836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=430835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=430835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=430835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}