German Football official calls for boycott of 2026 World Cup over Trump's Greenland push
FIFA World Cup is scheduled from June 11 to July 19
January 24, 2026
A German Football Federation executive committee member has called for a boycott of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which will be jointly hosted by the United States, Canada, and Mexico, amid the U.S. President Donald Trump’s push to acquire Greenland.
President of Bundesliga club St. Pauli, Oke Gottlich, said Friday that the time has come to seriously consider and discuss his boycott suggestion, adding, “The way we have gone completely apolitical after claiming that Qatar was too political bothers me.”
He added that Europe has forgotten how to set boundaries and defend values.
Gottlich, known for mixing sports and politics, referenced the boycotts of the 1980 Olympic Games held in Moscow and said: “By my reckoning the potential threat is greater now than it was then.”
For context, the U.S. led the boycott of the 1980 Olympic Games held in the Soviet Union (Russia) amid the Cold War and Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, resulting in the participation of only 81 countries, while 60 nations stayed away.
The World Cup is scheduled from June 11 to July 19.
Gottlich’s remarks come amid President Trump’s efforts to gain control of Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory in the Kingdom of Denmark.
