Joseph Sepp Blatter, former FIFA president, backed a proposed boycott of World Cup matches in the United States last week, citing the actions of President Donald Trump and his administration for the boycott.
The United States is set to co-host the World Cup with Canada and Mexico beginning in June of this year.
Blatter, who served as FIFA president from 1998 to 2015, voiced his support for the boycott in a post on X/twitter on January 26, referring to comments made by Mark Pieth during an interview with the Swiss newspaper Der Bund last week.
Pieth, a Swiss attorney specializing in white-collar crime and anti-corruption, previously chaired the Independent Governance Committee that oversaw FIFA's reform efforts.
In his interview with Der Bund, Pieth stated, “If we consider everything we’ve discussed, there’s only one piece of advice for fans: Stay away from the USA! You’ll see it better on TV anyway. Upon arrival, fans should expect that if they don’t please the officials, they’ll be put straight on the next flight home. If they’re lucky.”
International soccer figures questioning the United States
Blatter is not the only international soccer figure questioning the suitability of the United States as a host country.
Oke Göttlich, a vice president of the German soccer federation, mentioned in an interview with the Hamburger Morgenpost that it is time to seriously consider a boycott of this year’s World Cup.
The Associated Press reported that concerns from the international soccer community about the United States primarily stem from Trump's expansionist stance on Greenland, as well as travel bans and aggressive tactics in dealing with migrants and immigration enforcement protesters in American cities, particularly Minneapolis.
Travel plans for fans from two major soccer countries in Africa were disrupted when the Trump administration announced a ban that effectively barred people from Senegal and Ivory Coast from following their teams unless they already possessed visas.
Trump reportedly cited “screening and vetting deficiencies” as the primary reason for these suspensions.
Additionally, fans from Iran and Haiti, two other countries that have qualified for the World Cup, will also be barred from entering the United States, as they were included in the initial travel ban announced by the Trump administration.