January 28 – The Austrian FA (OFB) has joined the German FA in ruling out a World Cup boycott, arguing that ‘football and politics’ should be separated.
On Monday, Austria’s ministry of defence attached a risk factor to the United States, one of three co-hosts of the 2026 World Cup, but OFB president Josef Pröll told Der Standard: “There is the principle of keeping sport and politics separate. I also follow this principle. In the current situation, the ÖFB will certainly not advise fans from traveling to America.”
He added “that of course we are also watching the situation in the USA.”
Austria return to the World Cup for the first time since 1998 when, spearheaded by Toni Polster, they failed to get out of a group with Italy, Cameroon and Chile. They drew against the Africans and South Americans but lost their final group game 2-1 to their neighbours.
Pröll’s predecessor Wolfgang Bartosch said: “A military intervention by the USA in Greenland would of course be the worst-case scenario. Then the situation would have to be reassessed.”
Earlier this week, DFB president and FIFA Council member, Bernd Neuendorf, called a boycott debate “ill-timed and not relevant for us.”
The policies and actions of US President Donald Trump’s administration have heightened tensions with Europe, sparking some calls for a boycott of the global finals.
Trump has threatened to seize control of Greenland, a territory of Denmark, and to annex co-host nation Canada. Meanwhile, the activities of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have fostered a climate of fear across several U.S. states.
Neuendorf said it should be left to politics to assess the situation in the US.
However, in December, following the draw in Washington DC, he defended FIFA’s Peace Prize award to Trump, even though he had not been consulted as a FIFA Council member.
Neuendorf said: “I think it’s not completely wrong to give a prize like that because it shows what football stands for.”
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