- 9 hours ago
World Cup: Has Trump already ruined the vibes? MEPs debate in The Ring
The World Cup is on, the single biggest sport event of the year, followed by millions of people around the world. So far, the vibes are strangely subdued. Ticket sales and hotel bookings are below expectations and immigration issues are making headlines - especially in the US.
READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2026/06/11/world-cup-has-trump-already-ruined-the-vibes-meps-debate-in-the-ring
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The World Cup is on, the single biggest sport event of the year, followed by millions of people around the world. So far, the vibes are strangely subdued. Ticket sales and hotel bookings are below expectations and immigration issues are making headlines - especially in the US.
READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2026/06/11/world-cup-has-trump-already-ruined-the-vibes-meps-debate-in-the-ring
Subscribe to our channel. Euronews is available on Dailymotion in 12 languages
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00:08Hello and welcome to The Ring, Euronews' weekly debate show broadcasting from the European
00:14Parliament in Brussels. I'm Stefan Grobe. On The Ring, debaters go face-to-face on some of
00:20the top political issues facing Europe. Today we want to talk about one of the biggest events
00:25of the year, the FIFA Football World Cup 2026. It's uniting the world, creating a vibe of
00:33friendship and festivity and leaving politics outside. Now if you believe that, you better
00:39think twice. Luis Alberto tells you why. This week the FIFA Football World Cup will kick
00:48off, capturing the attention of millions of people around the globe.
00:55But headlines will not only dominate the sport pages, rarely has the politics of football
01:01fueled such controversial debates in the run-up to a tournament like this year.
01:06It starts with the rationale behind giving this event for the first time to three host countries
01:12covering almost an entire continent, and expanding the number of teams from 32 to 48, with more
01:18than 1,200 players taking part. Then there's the exploding ticket prices, the fan boycotts,
01:26security concerns, whether Iran and Congo can take part, Trump, racism, the list is long.
01:35Has the world's most popular sport become a platform for global politics? Is football no longer just a sport?
01:44And what does the future of the World Cup look like?
01:51A lot to unpack for our contenders, and here they are!
01:57Rasmus Andresen, a German MEP from the Greens. He is a member of the Committees on Budget, Economic and Monetary
02:04Affairs,
02:04as well as a delegation for relations with the United States.
02:08Football must not become a playground for investors and pricing algorithms.
02:12When supporters are priced out of stadiums and clubs become assets in global ownership networks,
02:18we risk losing the very social and community value that makes sports special, he said.
02:23Lukas Mandl, an Austrian MEP from the Central Right European People's Party.
02:28In the European Parliament, he sits in the Committees on Development, Legal Affairs and Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs.
02:35In the run-up to the 2026 World Cup, he says,
02:39For these few weeks, football makes the world a family. To make it political or posh will not help.
02:49So, let me welcome to the ring, Lukas Mandl and Rasmus Andresen. Great to have you here. Good to see
02:56you.
02:57Now, the aim of the ring is to offer our viewers a glimpse at European Parliament debates,
03:02so you should feel right at home here. Are you ready?
03:05I think so, yes.
03:07We are ready.
03:07Good. Now, after all we've heard about the non-football related issues in the run-up of the tournament,
03:14are you still excited about the World Cup, Lukas?
03:17I'm totally excited. Football is king for the weeks ahead.
03:21Such a big game that's involving so many people worldwide is automatically with some political impact,
03:28but to politicize it purposely would be the absolutely wrong thing to do.
03:33I see the trouble. We will talk about it in today's discussion.
03:37But in the first place, also for myself as a fan, I see the excitement about the game.
03:43Okay.
03:44Well, I'm ready and I love the sport, so I'm really looking forward to see some nice matches
03:49to follow the German national team, but also some of the others.
03:54But I also have some concerns in mind looking on that this tournament mainly will be played in the US,
04:01where we have a sitting president who tries to do sports washing and to get a better image out of
04:08football.
04:09And there are some other issues I think we need to address, where we need to ensure that football still
04:15will be the sport for the people and not for some very few.
04:19Was it smart to give the tournament to three countries covering half a continent?
04:26I think, yes. Actually, it became the habit that big games would be hosted by several countries, which is cross
04:35-border.
04:35And cross-border even more provides sports to be a factor that makes people a family, the world a family.
04:43So it's good that there are three host countries. Of course, there are always also political implications, also due to
04:50the current US president, of course.
04:52But I think this part of the decision is a good one.
04:56But if the venues, the teams, the fans are hundreds of kilometers, thousands of kilometers away,
05:03how can you inspire that vibe and festivity if they're in remote places scattered across the United States, Canada and
05:13Mexico?
05:14Yeah, well, I mean, that's a fair question to ask. And if you ask me, I think the tournament is
05:20far too big.
05:20And the reason for this is not that they want to promote the values of football all over the world
05:27and they don't want to connect the world together.
05:30But what they want to create is money and profits. And in a way, you can say that's fine.
05:37Sports had always been a business. But for me, some of the decisions made by the FIFA in the run
05:44up for the tournament have been too much.
05:48And one of the issues I think we have to deal with is that the tournament is too big.
05:54There are too many countries participating. The tournament takes too long time.
05:59It has an impact also for clubs at national level who have to suffer.
06:05It has an impact on the players and the health of the players because we are creating a lot of
06:11matches.
06:12And this is why I'm a bit skeptical about that.
06:14I think the next time is going to be in Spain, Portugal and Morocco. It's also kind of an odd
06:18mix.
06:19Exactly. Yeah. That part at least will be better in four years when we will have it in Europe together
06:25with Morocco, of course, because the distances will be smaller.
06:29And I think this dynamic pricing systems, which makes tickets not a business, which is good.
06:37I agree with that, but makes them a posh adventure is just wrong.
06:43And this is why a more decent approach on European soil in four years will be better.
06:48But this doesn't take anything away from the excitement about football.
06:51Are you sure? I mean, the fans will basically meet each other at airports.
06:56What about the environmental footprint?
06:59I mean, the environmental footprint of this tournament is a big catastrophe.
07:03I mean, we can be very clear about that also because the national teams have to travel on long distances
07:09with planes.
07:11The fans need to do the same. If you, for example, would like to follow the German team, you have
07:15to take the plane and for a long distance to reach all to the to all of the different games.
07:21But what I think is much more concerning is that this tournament is really something regular citizens can't afford.
07:28You need to have a lot of money if you want to watch the game because the prices are far
07:33too high for the tickets, but also to travel in the US even with public transport is far too expensive.
07:40And this means that like the idea of that the world comes together, supporters meet each other are not realistic
07:51any longer, at least in this tournament.
07:52Well, when you talk about public transport, it's basically no public transport in the United States.
07:57But even in cities like New York or New Jersey, where we could see some news about that, like the
08:04prices were like 10 times higher than they normally were.
08:08So even there you cannot afford to go to the stadium or to travel to the stadium by train.
08:14Is that an issue here?
08:16Absolutely. I mean, there's a lot that stands between us.
08:18Not only that my colleague is from the Greens, I'm from the Christian Democrats.
08:23He's even German and I'm Austrian.
08:24It's the biggest difference, especially when it comes to the World Cup.
08:27But to be serious, these algorithms that stand behind this pricing does not serve a very important cause.
08:34That football has always been inclusive, something for everybody.
08:38I mean, in front of TV, with the whole excitement, everything around worldwide, it will still be something for everybody.
08:45So we must not forget that, but this is a bad example of a too posh adventure.
08:52I'm glad you say that, because what we've seen so far is not that many fans on the ground just
09:01yet.
09:01We'll see, right?
09:02But there's another aspect.
09:04Many fans just fear to fall into the hands of the U.S. immigration system, get locked up or whatever.
09:13Is this understandable?
09:14Absolutely.
09:14There was a referee from Somalia, I've heard, who was held back for hours and hours at the airport entering
09:21the U.S.
09:22There were even, in regular times before the World Cup, ice agents even approaching playgrounds of children.
09:30Basically football playgrounds where they assumed to find people they wanted to detain in the end.
09:39And even children would be detained by them.
09:41So there is something ongoing which can be of concern.
09:45And we have to observe it carefully.
09:47We have the issue with the Ebola outbreak in Congo.
09:52Generally there would be a restriction for traveling from Congo to the U.S.
09:57We will see how that applies to the players and maybe the fans and everybody around.
10:02And, of course, the big, the elephant in the room, as the saying says, is that for the first time
10:08in history, two countries at war are not only meeting, but one of the countries is the host country and
10:14the other country sends a national team, which has already misused the whole situation for a political statement, by the
10:20way.
10:20I mean the Iranian team.
10:21But we will see how this can be observed.
10:25Obviously, for the time being, Iran will only play Mexico.
10:28It's not politics at this point.
10:29At this point in age, we cannot separate football from politics, right?
10:34There's the actual accusation of racism.
10:36You mentioned the Somali referee that came to Miami and wasn't let in.
10:41There was the team from Senegal that was, you know, pulled out of the plane, put on the tarmac and
10:47then had to undergo a very aggressive search operation.
10:52This is not really what we want to see at the World Cup, right?
10:55No, and I have to say that I think the FIFA is doing a very bad job in protecting their
11:05own referees, some of the players, and I guess also the supporters in dealing with the US administration in a
11:15way which, like, more or less is protecting the US administration and especially President Trump.
11:25And they want to avoid big conflicts with the current administration.
11:30And this I found quite weird in a way, I have to say, because, I mean, you can have different
11:37opinions on the political situation in the US and so on.
11:42And it's maybe not up to the FIFA president to take a big stance on this, but not even protecting
11:48their own participants in their tournament, which are necessary to organize it is in a way weird from my perspective.
11:57Let me just stop you. We'll be talking about this in a moment as we are just getting warmed up
12:02here.
12:03Now it's time for gloves off.
12:09Now we want viewers to get a real flavor of the European Parliament chamber where members ask each other questions.
12:17That means we want our debaters to challenge each other directly, just as you do in the hemicycle.
12:24Let's get started with Lucas Mandlow.
12:26Dear colleague, you have advocated for boycotting the World Cup.
12:30I don't agree with that.
12:31I think the excitement about football is much bigger than politics can ever be.
12:35And the direct question would be, how would you explain to, let's say, a child excited about football, just interested
12:41into football and this exciting game?
12:43How would you explain to such a child to boycott the game?
12:47I did not advocate to boycott the tournament, especially not for supporters.
12:52But what I think politicians should do is to take a clear stance and to criticize both the FIFA, but
12:57also the current US administration on the mistakes they are making when it also comes to organizing sports.
13:05And there I think that politicians have a different kind of responsibility, meaning that they should not travel there and
13:15be part of the tournament and green light both the actions of the FIFA and of the US president.
13:23So for me, it's not a general boycott, but I think as politicians, we should not go there and then
13:27support.
13:28We have to tell the child that most games are in the middle of the night.
13:31And that's also true.
13:33Watch it.
13:34All right, Rasmus, your question.
13:35That's up to the parents, I guess, to decide.
13:38My question goes on the question if you think we need to regulate European football in general, also with regulation
13:49we can do at European level.
13:51Also because, and this is what I understood, you're also very critical about what we can see on the ticket
13:58prices, for example.
13:59So my question would be how should we address that or should we address that as legislators or is this
14:06something the FIFA and other organizations need to deal with?
14:09Well, thanks for the question, because I also wanted to echo what you have just said, that criticism is good,
14:14I think.
14:15But we also have to act to contribute to a better solution, better circumstances in four years from now, when
14:21Europe will be mainly the soil where the World Cup will take place.
14:27And I think regulation is not the first word that comes to my mind when it comes to that, because
14:31I think there's a lot of freedom and opportunity to decide responsibly.
14:35But I think what we need is clear lines for what responsibility means for a game that affects the whole
14:41world, for a game that involves everybody, men and women, by the way, today more than ever, in four years
14:47more than today.
14:48And that it can also make the world a family in the best sense one can imagine.
14:55This will not happen to the full extent this year, but it can happen in four years when we contribute
15:00to responsibility.
15:01We must also not overestimate our say as lawmakers.
15:06I mean, we make laws especially to protect freedom.
15:09And this is also the freedom of decision of FIFA, of UEFA, as long as there are responsibility boundaries.
15:17And this is what I want to contribute to.
15:19And I think we can work on that together in four years from now.
15:24Okay. Do you have another question to Rasmus?
15:27Who will win the World Cup?
15:30I hope, my hope goes to Germany.
15:32That puts him in the bind here, I see.
15:35What?
15:35That puts you in a bind now.
15:37Well, my hope goes to Germany, but I think it will be Spain or France.
15:43Just, it occurs to me, four years ago the World Cup was in Qatar.
15:48Four years before that it was in Russia.
15:51Does FIFA have a blind eye when it comes to, you know, hosting these tournaments?
15:57I mean, do we?
15:58And this year we have a huge discussion about, you know, Trump's America.
16:03Isn't that unfortunate?
16:04I mean, I'm not here in any way to defend FIFA.
16:08I think there are decision takers with good decisions, with bad decisions.
16:13I just wanted to draw the picture on the larger overview.
16:16The decisions of the venues for games like this, especially the Football World Cup, have been taken many years before
16:22political developments broke out.
16:26And this was true for Russia.
16:27By the way, when we discuss Iran and USA today, we as Europeans know very well that with Russian sports
16:35teams in many areas, very often agents and spies come along.
16:39But, I mean, also, I remember how naive the world was, not only FIFA, how naive when it came to
16:46the games in Qatar, all the world was about judging, for example, the labor standards when the stadiums were built
16:53and so on in Qatar.
16:54I have some confidence that today such naivety would not occur anymore.
16:59At least in Qatar the distances were shorter, Rasmus.
17:03Your take on this and then we move on.
17:05Well, on the other side, like I think also back that time there had been a lot of criticism that
17:12the tournament took place in Qatar because of good reasons, human rights situations, workers' rights and so on, freedom of
17:20media, for example.
17:22I think they have a blind spot, FIFA has a blind spot.
17:25And for me, this is an argument for that the big football associations like the FIFA are money driven and
17:34they are arguing with values they are not really following up to.
17:41And that's what I'm mostly criticizing.
17:43And this we could see with a lot of examples.
17:46And this is what I think needs to change.
17:49OK, well, we've heard the views from our guests.
17:52Now it's time to hear from a new voice.
17:59I would like to bring in Gianni Infantino, the president of FIFA at the 50th UEFA Congress in Brussels in
18:06April.
18:07He said this.
18:08Our responsibility is to give 90 minutes of a match where people can forget their issues, the problems they have
18:16at home, they have in work, they have in their countries, they have on a political level.
18:23Is he right?
18:24Of course he's right.
18:25I mean, that's the basic thing you have to say, no matter whether one decision of him is bad, the
18:29other one would be good.
18:31One can argue about FIFA about any organization as well.
18:33But of course, this quote is exactly how I see it.
18:36Well, from my perspective, he's not right, because that's not what he's doing and what he's participating in or how
18:45he's organizing the sports.
18:46Football had been community driven for more than 100 years.
18:51And I think that organizations like FIFA and people like like Mr. Infantino are part of the process which are
19:03taking this away from football and where he basically is supporting commercialization and on the other side sports washing.
19:14So if he sits next to President Trump in the football stadium and he will sometimes be on camera seen
19:23by people back home, then it's not easy for immigrants, for example, to enjoy the nice game.
19:29They want to see being played because they are confronted with his brothership with a friendship with with Donald Trump.
19:38So I think he's right in what it should be about, but he's not living up to that completely.
19:46Let's take a break here on The Ring. We'll be back with more after this. Don't go away.
20:00Welcome back to The Ring, Euronews' weekly debate show.
20:03I'm Stefan Grob and I'm joined by Osmus Andresen from the Greens from Germany and Lukas Mandl from the European
20:09People's Party from Austria.
20:11At this point, let's take a look at fan excitement or should I say demand versus reality.
20:20According to FIFA, there have been over 500 million ticket requests and more than 5 million tickets have been allocated
20:27at early sales phases.
20:29But according to a survey by the American Hotel and Lodging Association, 80% of hotel operators said bookings were
20:38below their initial forecasts.
20:41And between 65% and 70% of respondents said visa barriers and geopolitical concerns were suppressing international demand.
20:52So anticipated demand has not translated into strong hotel bookings so far. Your comments on this?
21:00Well, I mean, that's because of the general price level, I think, both when it comes to the tickets, but
21:06also to other elements you need to pay for if you if you travel.
21:11And normally people are traveling to the country, even if they don't have tickets or can't afford the tickets because
21:17they want to be part of that.
21:19But this cannot be the case in the U.S. because it's it's far too expensive.
21:23And then there are some political issues that people have concerns about going there because they don't know if they
21:29are allowed to enter the country because of their nationality or because they may be posted something on social media.
21:37There's also Canada and Mexico.
21:40We forgot about that.
21:41But the tournament mainly takes part in the U.S.
21:43Because that's right. That's right.
21:44The ticket prices are a sign of a decadent society, not all ticket prices.
21:51But when it comes to this dynamic pricing, the algorithms in the end, the numbers that are told from there
21:57are absolutely crazy.
21:59It's like when the ancient Rome came to an end, this is not at all a game for everybody.
22:04This is not even a game for a minority.
22:06This is a game for maybe extremely wealthy people.
22:10If this goes that direction, this is absurd.
22:13This is wrong.
22:13This has to be excluded.
22:14Just to open a bracket here, the ticket for the final is about $10,000.
22:21I have even seen already larger prices in this dynamic pricing system than that.
22:27These extreme examples of where this dynamic pricing system can lead to are something we have to exclude, for example,
22:34for what will happen in four years from now in Europe.
22:37Is the best way to follow the matches in one's living room?
22:41Well, I don't know. I mean, you can still go in a bar and follow it.
22:46I know very well that the new mayor of New York City, Sora Mandani, he is a big football fan
22:52and he organized some community driven events like we would like to see it taking place in different cities.
23:00But at least my feeling is that you don't have the same happening on the streets in the public sphere
23:07with this tournament than you had earlier.
23:10All right. Now it's time to move on to our fifth and final round.
23:18We're going to do something different.
23:21I'm going to ask you a set of questions and you can only answer with a yes or no.
23:27All right. Let's get started.
23:30Most matches will take place in the middle of the night. As I said, do you plan on watching them
23:35anyway?
23:36Absolutely. Austria will play one time. I think at four in the morning in Austrian time.
23:40I will definitely watch it. I even have invited friends for that.
23:43We will have morning coffee and watch Austria win.
23:45OK, OK.
23:46I will watch most of it, I guess. But sometimes we have to negotiate important legislation in the parliament.
23:54And then I also need to get some rest to be ready for that.
23:57OK. Has FIFA effectively turned World Cup 2026 into a political branding exercise for the host governments? Yes or no?
24:05Yes. And not for the good. I mean, they gave a peace prize to Donald Trump.
24:10I think no or not yet to be told. I don't agree with every FIFA decision.
24:14But for example, this very present decision about this peace prize for the current US president by FIFA.
24:20I mean, it tells more about the current US president than about FIFA.
24:24Does giving the World Cup to three host nations make political accountability harder?
24:32It makes it harder. But I think there are still advantages of having such games,
24:38also Olympics, other World Cups in many countries, while the distances are a problem.
24:42I think the distances are the real problem. Not that it's three nations.
24:44Talk about that.
24:45It makes it harder. But that's also a reason for supporting, for example, civil society,
24:50like supporter organizations, human rights organizations on the ground,
24:54which are doing extraordinary and good work, excellent work in following what is actually happening
25:02and also reporting back so that you can also come up with problems like in a political sphere.
25:08Will security and immigration politics become one of the defining stories of this tournament?
25:12I mean, that depends on us, how we perceive it as fans, as citizens, also in public sphere.
25:19I mean, if we pay attention to the current US president more than to football,
25:23it's also partly our mistake. Football is king now.
25:25Okay. Okay.
25:27I don't think it's all a mistake to criticize if referees are not allowed to enter the country or to
25:32discuss what is actually going on with the Trump administration
25:39when it comes to immigration and other questions.
25:43Security is part of this and both the FIFA and the US administration are doing a lot, which then again
25:52needs to get a response.
25:54Okay. Next question. Will Austria win the World Cup?
25:58No.
25:59Of course.
26:01Of course, I support Austria and I'm a natural born optimist.
26:04So the next question is, will Germany win the World Cup?
26:06Not at all.
26:07Okay.
26:08I'm afraid we won't do it, but I would love it.
26:11Okay.
26:12And finally, was there anything over the last half hour that you heard your opponents say that you agree with?
26:21I start with you.
26:22I've heard a lot, for example, the strong criticism on the ticket prices and general development.
26:27I think where we maybe have a bit different opinion is on if politics should act.
26:34And I think we should act and we should come up with some solutions because we can see that FIFA
26:39is not able in doing that alone.
26:41Okay.
26:42Agreement?
26:42I agree with the excitement about football.
26:44I agree with a lot that has been stated already.
26:47I even agree that something has to be done.
26:49Maybe the how and what exactly has to be done is something we have to work out together, whether it's
26:54rather regulation or rather contributing to responsibility.
26:57I think political engineering is always the ultima ratio, the last possible option, not the first thing.
27:05And we will prove in Europe in four years from now we will make it better and also learn from
27:09the lessons this time.
27:10But now, as I said, football is king.
27:13All right.
27:13Wonderful conclusion.
27:15And that final answer brings us to the end of this edition of The Ring.
27:20Thanks again to Rasmus Andresen and Lukas Mandl for a lively conversation here from the European Parliament.
27:25Thanks to our audience at home.
27:27If you like, you can continue the conversation by sending us your comments to the ring at Euronews.com.
27:34We'd love to have your feedback.
27:36That's it for today.
27:38I'm Stefan Grobe.
27:39Take care and see you soon here on Euronews.
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