Right now, football fans would, under normal circumstances, be speculating about how well Lamine Yamal will perform in the upcoming World Cup and whether Germany, France, Argentina or Spain is the best team. Instead, dominating the 2026 World Cup talk are the names of a country not likely to win, and a political leader who famously refers to the sport as soccer and whose personal history with the “beautiful game” is non-existent.
With the kick-off just a few weeks away, Donald Trump has become the biggest name in the World Cup tournament, for all the wrong reasons.
Iran has qualified, but its presence on the pitch is secondary to its friction with the United States. Besides Trump, Iran has become the talking point because of its problems with America, one of the three co-hosts that also include Canada and Mexico.
Trump, Iran and high costs for travel, tickets and accommodation have combined to form a perfect storm affecting prospective attendance, which could be unprecedentedly low, and could even result in one or more of the football superpower nations boycotting the event.
Football is soft power while military might and coercion politics are hard power. The soft power of football, however, has proved politically worthwhile many times before, as nothing else comes close to the public euphoria it can generate.
The upcoming tournament will see a messy entanglement of soft power and hard power. While the World Cup is normally an occasion to unify global citizens, not divide them, most analysts are saying this could be the most divisive World Cup in the competition’s history.
They base their opinions primarily on the Iran war, which some blame on the country itself though others point the finger at the United States and Israel. The boycott calls have followed what Israel has done – and is still doing in Gaza, the American support for it at the United Nations, and both countries’ military campaigns against Iran, the big Muslim nation.
Apart from the geopolitical tension, the United States is having a big problem of its own affecting the World Cup. America’s immigration policies have been perceived as discriminating where poor countries are concerned, and fans of those countries that have been qualified may choose to stay home rather than risking arrest or interrogation in the United States.
Greed is the next problem. All related prices including food, accommodations and tickets have been set ridiculously high. Most criticism focuses on America and FIFA, with Canada and Mexico escaping much of the scrutiny.
A social media-driven campaign for a “partial boycott” has been gaining momentum, urging fans to skip matches staged in the United States. Between the threat of an immigration crackdown, astronomical price tags, and a political climate blamed for fueling global conflict, many fans feel the “beautiful game” has lost its soul to a perfect storm of hostility and greed
All of a sudden, the world’s most sacred sporting tournament on par with the Olympics has become heavily politicised. US President Trump is said to be taking a huge gamble. A successful World Cup will bring economic relief, ease political pressure and restore some American pride, but the exact opposite of all of these can easily happen.
A glimpse of trouble could be seen during Barcelona’s La Liga title celebration just a few days ago, when Lamine Yamal waved the Palestinian flag during the victory parade. A chilling preview of this friction also played out at the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna, where protests stripped the event of its “politically neutral” mask. Equally alarming was the protest against Israel's presence at the Venice Biennale, which forced several national pavilions to shut down due to security concerns. These are no longer isolated incidents; they are the drumbeats of a global movement.
Political talks regarding the World Cup will intensify even further in the coming days. They will make America shift uncomfortably even if nothing eventually happens. Israel will also feel the impact, even though the country has not qualified for the tournament.
Months ago, the “soft power” World Cup was expected to bring more than $30 billion into the US economy. But consequential “hard power” means that all economic analysts agree that the projection was way too optimistic. Hotels are slashing prices. Festival programmes are being curtailed. Block reservations made by Fifa have been massively cancelled.
Initially, moral issues dominated boycott talks. Pricing, however, has shot to the front of the debate. Match tickets have been priced so high that everyone is talking about it.
Ticket prices for this World Cup have seen a massive surge, with some categories increasing by almost 1,000% compared to the 2022 tournament in Qatar. Not to mention that the price hike doesn't match the reality of the economic outlook worldwide.
From certain reports, fans paid between US$55 and $618 for the opening game in Qatar but this time the ticket prices for the first match will be $560 and $2,735, an increase of more than 900%. For the final, it was between $206-$1,607 four years ago, but it will be between $2,030 and $11,000 now.
Nearly 80% of hotels in 11 US host cities are reporting bookings far below expectations, with some reportedly saying that the World Cup feels like a “non-event”. A significant number of hoteliers have even said that reservations during the World Cup may turn out to be lower than the same period last year.
One of the most favourite events in football is the dying-minutes goal that decides the game. The US may have to expect the same miracle. The kick-off has not taken place yet but the World Cup campaign seems to have already entered extra time.
