Between soccer festival and political powder keg
The USA, Mexico and Canada are hosting the World Cup together for the first time. At a time when US President Donald Trump is threatening Canada with annexation and Mexico with military strikes, Trump has had a wall built on the border with Mexico and is imposing horrendous punitive tariffs on both countries. How politically explosive and symbolic is the tournament?
Prof. Dr. Daniel Stein: Like all global sporting events, the World Cup has an incredible symbolic power. Billions of people will watch the games on television or computer screens, and many will travel to the USA, Canada and Mexico to watch the games despite the astronomical ticket and hotel prices. This is an important market for the US tourism industry, which has recently suffered massive losses, and FIFA is set to make record profits. As always, the question is what will be received by the local people and whether the World Cup can boost the economy. It is to be feared that the World Cup will be used to further restrict civil rights in the USA and distract attention from the current government's repression. Amnesty International speaks of the danger that the World Cup could become a "stage for repression" and calls on FIFA and the host countries to treat all fans and teams fairly.
Despite official statements to the contrary, relations between the three host countries are extremely tense. Many Canadians boycott products from the USA and no longer travel there; Mexico is dependent on strong economic relations with the USA, but is constantly being put under pressure by the US government, e.g. through new tariffs or threats of military attacks against the drug cartels. The fact that the Mexican government has allowed the Iranian team to set up camp in the country because Trump does not want to welcome them to the USA shows how difficult the situation is. In any case, there is not much left of the originally proclaimed continental unity. It remains to be seen exactly how this will affect the tournament and the coverage of it in the press and on social media.
The World Cup is taking place in the middle of a phase of strong social polarization in the USA. When and where were you last in the USA and how do you currently experience the mood within American society?
I was last in Atlanta for ten days at the beginning of April because we are establishing a partnership there with Georgia State University and Georgia Tech through the Atlanta Global Studies Center. On the one hand, it was great because we were able to work with many dedicated people there who are very committed to their students and the international programs, often have migration experience themselves and take a critical view of the growing authoritarianism in the USA and the attacks on universities, minorities and political dissidents. The city is also great. On the other hand, there are moments when the current political situation suddenly becomes very tangible: when excited passers-by ask whether the uniformed men at the end of the street are ICE agents, or when you hear on local television how the opportunities to vote in elections are to be restricted. The mood among the people I've dealt with is pretty depressed. Many are wondering what is happening to their country, and most are also concerned about inflation. Despite everything, however, the belief that things will get better prevails.
The US presidential election campaign is also playing a major role this year. To what extent could political players such as Donald Trump or populist dynamics in general try to use an event like the World Cup to their advantage? To what extent do you expect Trump and the MAGA movement to stage themselves in a targeted manner?
In the run-up to the tournament, we have already seen how the World Cup is being exploited politically. I'm thinking in particular of the ingratiations of FIFA boss Gianni Infantino, who presented Trump with a specially created peace prize after the US president failed to win the Nobel Peace Prize. Trump is not above using the sporting spotlight for his own publicity, as he showed last year at the Club World Cup final held at New Jersey's MetLife Stadium. After Chelsea had won 3-0 against Paris Saint-Germain, the players held the trophy aloft and the flashbulbs of the press flashed umpteen times, Trump remained standing next to the players to use the spotlight for his own PR.
There will be plenty of opportunities for Trump to promote his political agenda and condemn critical coverage during official welcoming speeches and interviews. He has a reputation for not sticking to custom and will therefore no doubt agitate shamelessly. Whether his MAGA base is all that interested in the World Cup is doubtful, however, as soccer has traditionally had more of a European connotation in the US and lags far behind sports like football, baseball, basketball and field hockey (and also relevant to MAGA: professional wrestling) in popularity, despite the media presence of stars like Lionel Messi in Major League Soccer. What seems more important to me is the question of whether the large media publicity generated by the coverage of the major event can sharpen the critical view of developments in the country and their consequences for the population.
Unlike in Mexico, the Canadian and US populations are not necessarily known for being big soccer fans. The US women's national team is repeatedly criticized in the MAGA camp for holding some progressive opinions. How does that fit in with the fact that Trump wants to use the World Cup for his election campaign?
Yes, that's true. I remember the moment when US striker Megan Rapinoe, when asked if she was looking forward to an invitation to the White House if the women's national team won the 2019 World Cup, said: "I am not going to the fucking White House". In recent months, fans of Major League Soccer have voiced some very clear criticism of the ICE authorities' actions against Latino/Latina communities in the country. In the USA, soccer still has the image of a sport of immigrants and liberals, even if it has become quite popular in the meantime. Trump will nevertheless try to use the World Cup as a political stage for himself - either on the positive side, with beautiful images, exciting games and frenetically cheering fans who show that people still enjoy traveling to the USA, or on the negative side, with political attacks (e.g. against the Iranian team) or a crackdown on protests, which will allow him to present himself as a strong man. It remains to be seen whether this calculation will work out.
The term "sportswashing" is often used in connection with international sporting events. What does this mean in the case of the World Cup? Where do you draw the line between legitimate sporting enthusiasm and the political instrumentalization of a tournament?
A few weeks ago, the British Guardian spoke of an impending "bonanza of sportswashing" in connection with the World Cup. This is particularly explosive because, after the tournaments in Russia (2018) and Qatar (2022), where numerous human rights violations were documented, this World Cup was supposed to be a major event without discussions about human rights, freedom of expression, the exploitation of workers and other critical issues. However, the tide has now turned due to the brutal immigration policy, the rise in political violence and the significant restriction of press freedom in the USA. It is to be expected that this "negative" news will be drowned out by positive reporting on sport and media-effective staging. It is all about the power of images and narratives: if the focus can be shifted away from the political and economic problems and social division and instead convey a sense of enthusiasm, unity and good humor, this can already lead to an image improvement (a whitewashing) and convey the image of a happy and united society that does not correspond to the actual situation.
Calls for a boycott are heard time and again. What reasons are cited here and what does this say about the political situation in the USA?
The reasons are actually obvious: in addition to the brutal detention and deportation of many people with a migration background and the killing of protesters by ICE agents, there are also the military interventions (Venezuela) and wars (Iran) that violate international law, the demonization of political dissidents, Trump's autocratic leadership style, corruption at the highest level, the threat of annexations (Greenland), the flattery of autocrats such as Putin and Kim Jong-un and much more. My impression is that these political transgressions and the current inability of US society to rid itself of the MAGA movement and the current administration are particularly resented by Americans. For a country that many people have long associated with the values of freedom and democracy, the disappointment at current developments is particularly great. It remains to be seen whether the World Cup can also be an opportunity for the other, currently oppressed, historically progressive-minded America to position itself for the upcoming mid-term elections in November and herald a change in policy. The World Cup can be one factor among many.
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Background
Prof. Dr. Daniel Stein is Professor of American and English Studies at the University of Siegen. He has taught at the University of Michigan and studied at Austin College, USA, among others. He regularly travels to the USA for research visits and collaborations, most recently to Atlanta, Georgia, in April 2026.
