The World Cup is in the spotlight this year not only for the competition on the pitch but also for the political debates intensifying ahead of the tournament. The decision to award the organisation to three countries, ticket prices, security concerns, boycott calls and accusations of discrimination have widened the framework around football.
European Parliament members Rasmus Andresen and Lukas Mandl recently assessed this growing politicisation of football from different perspectives. At the centre of the discussion was the question of whether the World Cup is still just a sporting event.
Three host countries and a growing debate
This year's tournament is being held for the first time with three co-hosts, shared between Canada, Mexico and the United States. The organisation, which will feature 48 teams and more than 1,200 players, is also drawing attention for its scale.
But the debate has not been limited to the format alone. Transportation, security, immigration, racism and the political atmosphere shaping up around Donald Trump in the US were counted among the issues overshadowing the tournament.
Rising ticket prices, in particular, have led many fans to reconsider their plans to attend matches in North America. This has amplified the question of whether the tournament is a fan-centred sporting festival or a large-scale investment-driven event.
Mandl: Football brings the world together for a few weeks
Mandl argued that the World Cup is an event that should be celebrated despite its problems. He said that football brings people together around a sense of family for a few weeks and stressed that unnecessarily politicising the organisation or confining it to an elitist framework would not be beneficial.
Mandl's approach aligned with a previous assessment made by FIFA President Gianni Infantino at a top-level European football meeting in Brussels. Infantino said that in a divided world, moments that bring people together are needed, and the World Cup would be a major example of this.
Infantino also highlighted the importance of 90-minute matches for billions of people to briefly forget their problems.
Andresen: Fans must remain at the heart of the game
Andresen took a more critical line. He stated that football should not be turned into a playground for investors and pricing algorithms.
According to Andresen, the exclusion of fans from stadiums and the treatment of clubs as assets in global ownership networks erodes football's social and unifying value. He therefore called for stronger ownership rules, transparency and oversight of ticket pricing.
Andresen also argued that Europe can no longer stand on the sidelines on this issue. In his view, football must be protected as a public good, not merely as a profit-generating sector.
Eyes on the coming weeks
The debate is expected to grow further in the coming weeks. Whether the World Cup can once again gather global attention around football or will remain overshadowed by political arguments will be decisive for the tournament's course.
On one side is the expectation of a unifying sporting celebration; on the other, sharpening criticism over prices, security and discrimination. The tournament has thus reopened a discussion not only about who will win the trophy, but about what kind of social role football will assume in the future.
