DFB sports director Rudi Völler has described the debate over boycotting the football World Cup in the USA due to Donald Trump's policies as "senseless." At a conference in Berlin, he emphasized that such a boycott would harm athletes and achieve nothing. Völler draws on past experiences with Olympic boycotts.
In Berlin, Rudi Völler, sports director of the German Football Association (DFB), spoke clearly on the debate about potentially boycotting the 2026 football World Cup in the USA. At the dpa editors' conference, the 65-year-old 1990 world champion said: "It is senseless to discuss this. It achieves nothing and you only harm the athletes."
Völler, who as a young professional experienced the politically motivated boycotts of the 1980 Moscow and 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, explained: "I have always been against a boycott because it doesn't achieve anything." The discussion was spurred in part by Oke Göttlich, head of FC St. Pauli. Göttlich emphasized: "You can't just ignore a topic. Football doesn't function in a vacuum from societal issues."
The background includes conflicts such as the US claims on Greenland under President Trump, which strained relations with NATO states, as well as the actions of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency against migrants, in which two people were killed. Völler wants political issues not to overshadow the World Cup trip. "We are there to play football," he said. He advocates for free expression but with timing: "There are no gags; everyone can voice their opinion and critically view things, but not the day before the match."
The debate recalls controversies during the Qatar World Cup over the rainbow captain's armband, which Völler does not want to repeat.