"Would meet Trump"

Germans threaten US with World Cup boycott over Greenland

US President Donald Trump(Bild: AFP/MANDEL NGAN)

Will the World Cup in the United States (June 11 to July 19) take place without Germany? US plans in Greenland have sparked a debate about a possible boycott by the German team. In Austria, such considerations have not met with approval so far.

In response to an APA inquiry, the Federal Chancellery in Vienna stated that "it vehemently opposes the politicization of art and culture, music, or sports and is firmly against cancel culture."

The discussion is currently being held intensively in Germany. If US President Donald Trump carries out his "threats regarding Greenland and starts a trade war with the EU, I can hardly imagine that European countries will participate in the World Cup," CDU security politician Roderich Kiesewetter told the "Augsburger Allgemeine" on Tuesday.

"Transatlantic partnership with the US at an end"
"It must be clear that this would spell the end of the transatlantic partnership with the US," Kiesewetter emphasized. However, he called for everything to be done "to prevent it from coming to that." The EU must now resolutely use "its instruments," he said. Among other things, the CDU politician brought counter-tariffs and taxes for digital companies into play.

The chair of the sports committee and SPD politician Aydan Özoguz also sees Trump's threats as clouding the prospects for the World Cup. "It is completely unclear under what conditions these games will be played," she told the Augsburger Allgemeine. "The same goes for what could happen to fans when they enter the US."

Donald Trump and FIFA President Gianni Infantino(Bild: AP/Jacquelyn Martin)

Responsibility for the World Cup lies with FIFA
It will be "difficult to enjoy soccer games peacefully while at the same time there is blackmail from the US towards Europe," Özoguz emphasized. However, whether and under what conditions the World Cup will take place is the responsibility of FIFA. The autonomy of sport must be respected here.

German Green Party foreign policy expert Boris Mijatovic advised soccer fans not to travel to the World Cup for safety reasons. "It is not safe for fans to travel to this World Cup," Mijatovic told Stern magazine. He also referred to the fatal shooting of a woman in Minnesota by a US border guard. "I can only advise every fan to boycott the World Cup games in the US."

(Bild: AFP/JORG CARSTENSEN)

Soccer fans advised against attending World Cup
Mijatovic emphasized that the Trump administration had "systematically turned the US into a police state." If these developments in the US were not corrected, the German federal government would have to "call for a diplomatic boycott of the World Cup games in the US." This would mean that the government would not send any official representatives to the World Cup.

On Monday, SPD economic policy expert Sebastian Roloff had already suggested to the Handelsblatt newspaper that Germany should withdraw from the World Cup. Economist Lucas Guttenberg from the Bertelsmann Foundation also called for this in the newspaper.

Boycott would hit Trump's vanity
A boycott by European countries would "hit Trump where it hurts most: his vanity," Guttenberg emphasized. In his view, a World Cup without European teams would be largely irrelevant in terms of sport and media coverage.

The World Cup will take place from June 11 to July 19, 2026, in the US, Canada, and Mexico. Germany has qualified. A German government spokesperson said on Monday that a possible World Cup boycott "plays no role" in the German government's current considerations.