The 2026 FIFA World Cup, held in the United States, Canada and Mexico, is under global pressure due to the course of U.S. President Donald Trump's policies. Many fans have voiced their concerns over Trump's use of the immigration service ICE in major U.S. cities, while the President's attack on Venezuela raised further questions.
With Trump now threatening to take over Greenland, which is governed by fellow NATO member Denmark, calls for boycotts of the coming FIFA World Cup are increasing.
Similar calls are growing exponentially in popularity in the Netherlands, where journalist and opinion maker Teun van de Keuken organised a petition calling for the KNVB to boycott the FIFA World Cup, which is now signed by nearly 120,000 people. Van de Keuken asks the KNVB to boycott the tournament to stop implicitly supporting Trump's immigration policies and expansionist politics.
No boycott 'so far'
During an award ceremony in The Hague, KNVB president Frank Paauw said that the Netherlands will "so far" not boycott the FIFA World Cup, which is set to kick off on June 11th, but acknowledged that Donald Trump "draws new lines" in global politics and that the U.S. President "threatens a lot."
Paauw further emphasised that the KNVB is a football organisation. "As long as politicians do not engage in politics, we will not engage in politics either," Paauw said.
