BRASILIA (EFE).— The president of FIFA, Gianni Infantino, reiterated this Monday the importance of celebrating the 2026 World Cup as a global union event, amid the growing voices of leaders and fans who have proposed a possible boycott of the tournament due to the anti-immigration policies of the US government headed by Donald Trump.
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After meeting with the President of Brazil,
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, at the Planalto Palace, Infantino stressed that football, both in men’s and women’s tournaments, should serve to
bring people and countries closer, regardless of the political context.
“I always look to the future. In this type of event, the most important thing is to unite people and nations from all over the world,” said the Swiss leader to the media.
Infantino also highlighted the
unprecedented interest that the 2026 World Cup, jointly organized by
United States, Mexico and Canada, has generated, revealing that
more than 500 million ticket requests have already been registered, a historic figure for the tournament.
Response to Boycott Calls
When asked about the social media messages of the former FIFA president,
Joseph Blatter, who suggested to fans to “stay away from the United States,” Infantino was emphatic in pointing out that football is experienced as a collective celebration.
“People want to go, they are going to go, and they are going to celebrate together. We always celebrate football together,” he affirmed.
The top leader of world football, who has met on several occasions with President Trump —to whom he even presented an award for his “contribution to world peace”— insisted on the need to
strengthen ties between peoples, especially in an international context marked by political and social tensions.
Criticisms of US policies
Blatter’s statements were joined by
Oke Göttlich, director of the German Football Federation and president of
FC St. Pauli, who supported the possibility of considering a boycott in response to Trump’s threats against the
European Union and his expansionist discourse regarding
Greenland.
The
2026 World Cup, which will be held between
June and July, will be the largest in the history of the tournament, with the participation of
48 teams, a total of
104 matches and
16 host cities spread across Canada, Mexico and the United States.
The competition will mark the return of the World Cup to US territory for the first time since
1994, in a context of marked social tension derived from the raids against migrants promoted by the current American administration.
