The ball does not get dirty, but politics does. While the World Cup captures global attention, world leaders are using the tournament to play their own game, full of diplomatic tensions, national causes, and power struggles. From the NATO summit to an obscure Paraguayan senator, everyone wants their fifteen minutes on the World Cup stage.
The most extreme case was led by Donald Trump, who personally intervened to overturn a red card to Folarin Balogun, sparking criticism about the integrity of the game. But he was not the only one. At the NATO summit in Ankara, allies had to tread carefully to avoid irritating the US president after the United States was eliminated by Belgium. According to reports, several agreed to avoid any comment about the World Cup so as not to anger Trump. A military alliance measuring its words over a soccer match.
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre celebrated his team’s qualification with the traditional ‘Viking rowing’ in front of a Volodymyr Zelensky who did not know whether to laugh or what. Støre also posed alongside Britain’s Keir Starmer, both wearing the jerseys of their teams that will face off in the quarterfinals. Starmer, who is on his way out, pushed to avoid a schedule change that would have disadvantaged England and even hinted at a bank holiday if the cup ‘comes home’.
But the most serious scandal came from Paraguay. After their team’s elimination in the round of 16, Senator Celeste Amarilla launched racist attacks against French captain Kylian Mbappé, calling him a ‘colonized Cameroonian’. The Paris Prosecutor’s Office opened an investigation for ‘aggravated public insult’ and ‘incitement to hatred’. President Santiago Peña saw his image of a stable country tarnished, while the vice president and the president of Congress condemned the remarks.
France is not without blame either. Mbappé’s defense brought to the forefront the debate on identity, immigration, and racism that divides the country. The French national team, presented as a symbol of multicultural France, carries the tensions of a society where Marine Le Pen’s far right is gaining ground. And an investigation revealed that the French team used planes from GlobalX, a company that also operates ICE deportation flights in the United States.
Egypt represents another extreme. After the defeat to Argentina, coach Hossam Hassan lost control: he argued with fans, confronted a photographer, and accused French referee François Letexier of influencing the result. The Egyptian Federation filed a formal protest with FIFA.
The World Cup, far from being an oasis of sport, has become a mirror of global tensions. Politics, as always, does not get dirty: it plays its own game.
Para mí esto huele a circo imperialista de mierda. La OTAN y los racistas se meten en el mundial mientras Mbappé y Trump son la misma basura capitalista. Yo creo que hay que mandarlos a todos a la concha de su madre. Viva la lucha de los pueblos, carajo.
che ya era hora q le paren el carro a estos zurdos de mierda el mundial es de los patriotas no de vagos q se ofenden x todo para mi mbappé y trump tienen razon fuera negros y chorros de la cancha viva la argentina carajo 🇦🇷