St. Pauli president and vice president of the German Football Association (DFB) Oke Göttlich has recently tossed around the idea of boycotting the 2026 FIFA World Cup in Canada, the United States, and Mexico due to the ongoing situation between the US and Greenland.
In an interview with the Hamburger Post (via welt.de), Göttlich was asked if he was calling for a boycott, after having previously questioned in a social media post whether European national teams should participate in a tournament hosted
by a country “that is indirectly and possibly soon directly attacking Europe.” To this, Göttlich aswered that it was time to “think about it and talk about it concretely.”
However, Göttlich stressed that he would not advise any player to make their opinion on the matter public, since “that is a decision each individual had to make for themselves.” Göttlich also stated that he was disappointed that UEFA football associations, including the DFB, had been “so quiet, almost speechless” about the matter, which was different before the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Göttlich also said he has thought about the possible consequences such as financial disadvantages for the associations and players. To that, he suggested a UEFA competition in the summer for teams not competing in the World Cup.
Finally, Göttlich stated that the situation could not be compared to Qatar and Saudi Arabia because, while these countries had disreputable human rights abuse records, they had “at least not issued any open threats or attacks against Europe.”
If you are looking for more Bayern Munich and German national team coverage, check out the latest episodes of Bavarian Podcast Works, which you can get on Acast, Spotify, Apple, or any leading podcast distributor…
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