With relations between European governments and the United States strained, calls for European teams to boycott World Cup 2026 are beginning to gain traction in some quarters. Politicians, fans and football executives are among those who believe that the actions of Donald Trump’s administration — particularly in relation to Greenland — make participating in the tournament problematic.

Though Trump said in his speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos last week that he won’t use force to annex Greenland, he immediately preceded that by saying: “We probably won’t get anything unless I decide to use excessive strength and force, where we would be, frankly, unstoppable.”

Given the US president’s history of head-spinning U-turns on all sorts of issues, European governments must remain prepared for all eventualities, despite the later announcement that the framework of a Greenland deal had been agreed with NATO. So, too, must their football associations.

Mogens Jensen, spokesperson of the Danish Social Democrats for culture, media and sports, told DW that Denmark — of which Greenland is a semiautonomous constituent territory — is not yet calling for a boycott.

“For my party and for myself, our view on this is that it is one of the last tools in the toolbox that you should take up,” he said.

But, he added, were Trump to decide an invasion was the way to achieve his aim after all, things would have to change.

“I will be honest and say, yes, if that should happen, then a boycott discussion is very, very relevant,” Jensen said moments before Trump took to the Davos stage.

“It’s likely to happen if it develops into a real conflict. I sincerely hope that it will not come to this,” he added.

Greenland tariffs put Germany, others in tough spot

Reports from various outlets suggest European football’s governors, UEFA, held a meeting featuring a number of heads of football associations on Monday, with the 10% tariffs Trump slapped on eight European countries over Greenland last week likely to have been a key topic. Trump said on Wednesday that he would revoke these should the NATO deal be “consumated.”

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Of those eight nations, Norway, the Netherlands, Germany, France and the UK (in the shape of England and Scotland) have already qualified for the tournament while Denmark, Sweden and Northern Ireland (also UK) are in the playoffs. The final country, Finland, did not qualify.

It isn’t just Danish politicians who could be forced to consider their options. In Germany, a handful have spoken on the boycott issue. Roderich Kiesewetter of Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democrats sits on the Bundestag’s foreign affairs committee and said military action may not even be required for a boycott.

“If Trump follows through on his announcements and threats regarding Greenland and starts a trade war with the EU, it’s hard for me to imagine European countries participating in the World Cup,” he told the Augsburg Allgemeine newspaper.

However, Chris­ti­ane Schen­de­r­lein, Germany’s state min­is­ter for sports, has kicked the can to the country’s football association, the DFB.

“Decisions on par­ti­cip­a­tion or boy­cotts at major sport­ing events lie solely with the com­pet­ent sports asso­ci­ations, not with politi­cians,” she told news agency AFP.

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The DFB has not responded to a request from DW for comment on the issue.

Fan frustration drives growing petition

Teun van de Keuken became frustrated by what he sees as political inaction in the face of one NATO member threatening another, among other Trump policies, and began a petition in his native Netherlands which now stands at 135,000 signatures and climbing.

“Sports associations almost always say we don’t want to mix politics and sports, but the problem is the politics are already there and you have to take a stand,” van de Keuken told DW.

Van de Keuken is now looking for the best way to get the petition to a broader global audience and tap into what he believes is broad fan dissatisfaction with the tournament.

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“This boycott idea is now popular amongst football fans, like me. I wouldn’t like it if this happens as we won’t have a World Cup, which is always a highlight in sports and I love it. But I think now the political situation is more important.”

Peace prize leads to neutrality questions

In the eyes of van de Keuken and many others, FIFA President Gianni Infantino’s very public cozying up to Trump has made FIFA’s usual insistence on its politically neutral stance even harder to accept. Danish politician Jensen is also concerned that this will allow Trump to use the tournament for “propaganda.”

Donald Trump receives first FIFA peace prize

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“I have my fears when you see that FIFA suddenly thinks the president of the US should have a peace prize, which has never existed before. I don’t know on what grounds FIFA suddenly needs to award a peace prize, but it could be a warning of what could await us when the tournament happens in the US.”

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Jensen is not alone in his misgivings, even if most political parties and federations are sitting back and waiting to see which, if any, of Trump’s announcements will come to pass. The new tariffs are to come into effect on February 1, if the NATO deal Trump refers to is not signed by then. That’s 10 days before UEFA’s Executive Committee (Exco) meets in Brussels.

Can European football unite if needed?

That meeting could prove decisive in any efforts to form a European alliance to boycott the tournament. With 16 of the 48 teams at the World Cup and the world’s most powerful club sides from Europe, any move by the continent’s associations would likely see the rest of the footballing world take notice — with some possibly to follow.

While there have also been calls from politicians in the UK, France and elsewhere both for and against boycotts, European champion Spain may be one of the countries expected to lead any potential charge. The country’s prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, was one of a handful of world leaders who called for Israel to be barred from international sports competitions last year while Spain, along with the Netherlands, was one of several countries that said it would boycott the Eurovision Song Contest over the war in Gaza.

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Another country that has often stood up in human rights disputes, and would be impacted by the tariffs if they come into effect, is Norway. Lise Klaveness, the president of Norway’s FA (NFF) — who is also on UEFA’s Exco — was another to call for a boycott of Israel, while Norway’s players wore protest T-shirts in support of Qatari migrant workers before the 2022 World Cup in the Middle Eastern country.

But Klaveness told reporters in Norway on Tuesday that, if there were to be a boycott, no country could or should go it alone.

 “We do not believe that an isolated boycott on the part of NFF is an effective means of lasting change. In these times, it is particularly important that countries in Europe speak with one voice and stand united,” she said.

Edited by: Chuck Penfold

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