Denmark’s immediate football preoccupation is beating North Macedonia in a play-off semi-final in March, and perhaps the Republic of Ireland after that to qualify, but it is not a huge leap of logic to conclude that boycotting the World Cup which the United States is preparing to be defied for this summer will be the only conceivable option to that nation, when the time comes.
FIFA’s bootlicker-in-chief Gianni Infantino won’t see this of course. Just as he is too intellectually challenged to appreciate that his sycophant’s ‘Peace Prize’ for Donald Trump has made him one of world sport’s most preposterous and ridiculed figures.
But Trump’s fixation with annexing Greenland, an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, has seen Danish and German troops on the ground there this week. And because events almost always escalate with Trump, it is reasonable to pose the question of what happens if a Danish soldier is shot, accidentally or otherwise, by a member of Trump’s military? Or if Denmark finds itself in a state of open military conflict with the US?
Governments decide whether to withdraw their teams from a World Cup, but it would be hard to see anything but a boycott for the Danes in those circumstances. Public pressure would be overwhelming.
God knows just how many competing nations Trump’s imperialism will have taken him into a state of military conflict with, when the tournament kicks off on June 11. There have been threats towards Mexico, ranging from punitive economic coercion to suggestions of unilateral military action, which sit uneasily alongside its role as a co-host of the tournament.
Israel is currently trying to talk Trump out of launching strikes on Iran, who are scheduled to start their World Cup against New Zealand in Los Angeles, on June 16.
Donald Trump’s fixation with annexing Greenland could lead to problems for the World Cup
With Greenland being an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, the Danes might consider a boycott should the situation escalate
FIFA president Gianni Infantino has been sycophantic towards Trump ahead of the World Cup
French troops are also on the ground in Greenland, where Germany has sent a military reconnaissance mission and Britain has joined joint exercises. In a worst-case scenario, a member of any one of the NATO nations supporting Greenland could come to harm, accidentally or otherwise.
Given the strong demands for an England boycott of the 2018 Russia World Cup, from this newspaper among others, after the outrage of Russian operatives killing a British woman with the Novichok nerve agent at Salisbury earlier that year, it can be said without the faintest hesitation that harm befalling any of our servicemen and women in Greenland would pile huge pressure on the Government to order the FA to withdraw, this time.
There is also the bleak reality of life in some American cities where Trump’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents are roaming the streets, looking for people to round up and deport. A friend in Minneapolis, where a woman was killed with three bullets through the head for what agents claimed was her resisting arrest, describes something resembling a police state. People of ethnic extraction are afraid to leave the house, even with the Green Card which they must display if stopped by ICE agents. A helicopter stands by to remove people.
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have expressed concern that ICE raids and heightened immigration enforcement in and around World Cup venues — especially Chicago and Los Angeles, which are under federal operation surges – could create a chilling atmosphere for fans, workers and residents.
Brazil play Scotland in Miami on June 24. Will twitchy ICE agents be in operation, looking for Brazilians to pick up and deport, adding to the record 2,500 of that nationality who were deported from the US last years? Given events in Minneapolis, it is not an inviting prospect for the Scottish fanbase.
If the situation on the US domestic and geo-political fronts materially worsened, what would it take for the World Cup, or at least the United States’ majority part in it, to be cancelled?
Infantino awarded Trump a ‘Peace Prize’ in December – before he has issued a series of threats to nations
Should Trump’s military adventurism persist, talk of World Cup boycotts could be possible
So much that the prospect is still utterly unthinkable – even if there were NATO casualties in Greenland and even if FIFA had a credible leader. It would require active war on US soil, state collapse, international sanctions making participation illegal, or visa policies preventing entire qualified national teams from entering the US. Only then would FIFA’s Audit, Risk and Advisory sub-division flag the issue and FIFA would issue a formal written notices. As it did before Colombia voluntarily withdrew as hosts of the 1986 World Cup, amid currency instability, failing stadium construction and rising guerilla violence. Mexico hosted instead.
Should Trump’s military adventurism persist, the kind of boycott which hit the 1980 Moscow and 1984 LA Olympics, after Russia’s invasion of Afghanistan, is conceivable. As yet discussion of that among Danes has been limited to online forums, where some are suggesting the country should play in green as a sign of unity.
In 2018, Vladimir Putin ordered police and military services to adopt a softer approach than the Russian people were generally accustomed to, seeing the value of presenting a positive image to the world. But Trump has no such subtle powers of pre-calculation. Fewer than 150 days out, anything could happen.
