Sepp Blatter is right – we should all boycott America & the 2026 World Cup | OneFootball

You have to question the state of the world when Sepp Blatter has revealed himself as this generation’s Nelson Mandela.

Blatter stepped down as FIFA president in 2015 amid several scandals and was replaced by Gianni Infantino, who has jumped into bed with Donald Trump.

He gave his support to comments from Swiss anti-corruption lawyer Mark Pieth, who worked with FIFA on potential reforms when Blatter was president, saying fans should stay away from America for the upcoming World Cup.

“I think Mark Pieth is right to question this World Cup,” Blatter said on social media.

Pieth cited the killing of protester Renee Good by an American immigration agent in Minneapolis earlier this month as one reason for supporters not to travel to the US.

“What we are seeing domestically – the marginalisation of political opponents, abuses by immigration services, et. – hardly encourages fans to go there,” Pieth said in an interview with Swiss daily Tages-Anzeiger last week.

“For fans, just one piece of advice: avoid the United States! You’ll get a better view on television anyway. Upon arrival, fans should expect that if they don’t behave properly with the authorities, they will be immediately sent home. If they’re lucky …”

Blatter’s endorsement of Pieth’s comments comes in the wake of the death of a second US citizen, Alex Pretti, last weekend.

Even before ICE agents enacted their Gestapo fantasies on their own people, the 2026 World Cup has been a sh*tshow in the making.

Exorbitant ticket prices have made the tournament the preserve of the super-rich. Excessive demands on host cities have siphoned public money.

The finals draw in December was shambolic, with Trump awarded the FIFA Peace Prize one month before kidnapping Venezuela’s leader and threatening to invade Greenland.

And FIFA have already implemented mandatory drinks breaks during every match, essentially splitting the game into quarters for the slavish demands of American broadcasters and advertising.

Now, federal violence has made it difficult to justify America hosting the World Cup at all. It’s only January. There are five months for things to get even worse.

The American administration called both Good and Pretti ‘domestic terrorists’, despite video evidence to the contrary. Infantino is putting citizens of the world at risk for the Yankee dollar.

With the benefit of time and distance, Blatter’s villainy seems almost cartoonish in comparison to his successor.

He would at least look suspicious when wheeling away a trolley full of meat from the supermarket, whereas Infantino brazenly whistles as he strolls out the front entrance.

And it’s hard to shake the suspicion that Blatter is motivated purely by bitterness at being ousted as president. But he’s right.

While the FIFA president parrots claims about football’s unity, boycotting the World Cup has been informally discussed by European administrators in response to the Greenland crisis.

“A boycott would not be directed against the people of the United States, but against the government,” said Oke Goettlich, St Pauli chairman and member of the DFB executive committee.

“It would be a form of protest toward those in power and an action in defence of human rights and the rule of law.

“This is not about demonising the United States, and certainly not its population. It is about standing with those who are threatened by the Trump administration.”

We’re not holding our breath for many public figures to stand against Infantino, FIFA and America, even though it’s clearly the right course of action.

For all the money, hype and discourse surrounding the World Cup, it’s only a football tournament. You could shower for a thousand years and not wash away the shame of appeasement.

Are we really going to pretend everything is fine in June, go through with the charade of Panini stickers, wall-charts and kit rankings while innocent people are being murdered on American streets?

All football fans ever wanted was for Infantino to be better than Blatter. Now we have Blatter being better than Infantino.