- 15 ore fa
Mondiali, Trump rovina già il clima? Il dibattito degli eurodeputati a The Ring
I Mondiali sono iniziati, il più grande evento sportivo dell’anno, seguito da milioni di persone. Ma l’atmosfera è insolitamente tiepida: biglietti e hotel vanno a rilento e i problemi di immigrazione, soprattutto negli Stati Uniti, dominano i titoli.
ALTRE INFORMAZIONI : http://it.euronews.com/2026/06/15/mondiali-trump-rovina-gia-il-clima-il-dibattito-degli-eurodeputati-a-the-ring
Abbonati, euronews è disponibile in 12 lingue.
I Mondiali sono iniziati, il più grande evento sportivo dell’anno, seguito da milioni di persone. Ma l’atmosfera è insolitamente tiepida: biglietti e hotel vanno a rilento e i problemi di immigrazione, soprattutto negli Stati Uniti, dominano i titoli.
ALTRE INFORMAZIONI : http://it.euronews.com/2026/06/15/mondiali-trump-rovina-gia-il-clima-il-dibattito-degli-eurodeputati-a-the-ring
Abbonati, euronews è disponibile in 12 lingue.
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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 the
00:20top political issues facing Europe. Today we want to talk about one of the biggest events of the
00:26year, the FIFA Football World Cup 2026. It's uniting the world, creating a vibe of friendship and
00:34festivity and leaving politics outside. Now if you believe that, you better think twice. Luis
00:41Albertos tells you why. This week the FIFA Football World Cup will kick off, capturing the attention of
00:50millions of people around the globe. But headlines will not only dominate the sport pages, rarely
00:59has the politics of football fueled such controversial debates in their run-up to a tournament like
01:04this year. It starts with the rationale behind giving this event for the first time to three
01:11host countries covering almost an entire continent, and expanding the number of teams from 32 to
01:1748, with more than 1200 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?
01:41Is football no longer just a sport? And what does the future of the World Cup look like?
01:57Rasmus Andresen, a German MEP from the Greens. He is a member of the committees on budget,
02:03economic and monetary affairs, as well as a delegation for relations with the United States.
02:08Football must not become a playground for investors and pricing algorithms. When supporters are priced out
02:14of stadiums and clubs become assets in global ownership networks, we risk losing the very social
02:19and community value that makes sports special, he said.
02:24Lukas Mandl, an Austrian MEP from the Central-Right European People's Party. In the European Parliament,
02:30he 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.
02:56Now, the aim of the ring is to offer our viewers a glimpse at European Parliament debates, so you should
03:03feel
03:03right at home here. Are you ready? I think so, yes. We are ready. Good. Now, after all we've heard
03:09about the
03:10non-football related issues in the run-up of the tournament, are you still excited about the World Cup?
03:17I'm totally excited. Football is king for the weeks ahead. Such a big game that's involving so many people worldwide
03:25is automatically with some political impact. But to politicize it purposely would be the absolutely
03:32wrong thing to do. I see the trouble. We will talk about it in today's discussion. But in the first
03:38place, also for myself as a fan, I see the excitement about the game. Okay. Well, I'm ready and I
03:46love the
03:46sport. So I'm really looking forward to see some nice matches to follow the German national team, but also
03:52some of the others. But I also have some concerns in mind, looking on that this tournament mainly
03:59will be played in the US, where we have a sitting president who tries to do sports washing and to
04:07get a better image out of football. And there are some other issues I think we need to address,
04:13where we need to ensure that football still will be the sport for the people and not for some very
04:19few.
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,
04:34which is cross-border. And cross-border even more provides sports to be a factor that makes people a
04:42family, the world a family. So it's good that there are three host countries. Of course,
04:46there are always also political implications, also due to the current US president, of course.
04:53But I think this part of the decision is a good one. But if the venues, the teams, the fans
04:59are
04:59hundreds of kilometers, thousands of kilometers away, how can you inspire that vibe and festivity
05:08if they're in remote places scattered across the United States, Canada and Mexico?
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
05:20big. And the reason for this is not that they want to promote the values of football all over the
05:27world,
05:27and they don't want to connect the world together. But what they want to create is money and profits.
05:35And in a way, you can say that's fine. Sports had always been a business. But for me,
05:41some of the decisions made by the FIFA in the run up for the tournament have been too much. And
05:49one of
05:50the issues I think we have to deal with is that the tournament is too big. There are too many
05:55countries
05:55participating there. The tournament takes too long time. It has an impact also for clubs at national
06:02level who have to suffer to suffer. It has an impact on the players and the health of the players,
06:09because we are creating a lot of matches. And this is why I'm a bit skeptical about that.
06:14This is right. I think next time is going to be in Spain, Portugal and Morocco is also kind of
06:18an odd mix.
06:20Exactly. 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. And I think this dynamic pricing systems,
06:33which makes tickets not a business, which is good. I agree with that, but makes them a posh
06:40adventure is just wrong. And this is why a more decent approach on European soil in four years will
06:48be better. But 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. What about the
06:57environmental footprint? I 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
07:10with planes. The fans need to do the same. If you, for example, would like to follow the German team,
07:15you have to take the plane and for a long distance to reach all to the to all of the
07:20different games.
07:21But what I think is much more concerning is that this tournament is really something
07:26regular citizens can't afford. You need to have a lot of money if you want to watch the game,
07:31because the prices are far too high for the tickets, but also to travel in the U.S. even with
07:37public
07:37transport is far too expensive. And this means that like the idea of that the world comes together,
07:46supporters meet each other, are not realistic any longer, at least in this tournament.
07:53Well, when you're talking about public transport, there's basically no public transport in the
07:57United States. But even in cities like New York or New Jersey, where we could see some news about
08:04that, like the prices were like 10 times higher than they normally were. So even there, you cannot
08:10afford to go to the stadium or to travel to the stadium by train. Is that an issue here?
08:16Absolutely. I mean, there's a lot that stands between us. Not only that my colleague is from the Greens.
08:21I'm from the Christian Democrats. He's even German and I'm Austrian. It's the biggest difference,
08:25especially when it comes to the World Cup. But to be serious, these algorithms that stand behind this
08:31pricing does not serve a very important cause. That football has always been inclusive, something for
08:38everybody. I mean, in front of TV, with the whole excitement, everything around worldwide, it will still be
08:44something for everybody. So 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. But there's another aspect. Many fans just fear to fall into the hands of the U.S.
09:09immigration system, get locked up or whatever. Is this understandable?
09:14Absolutely. There was a referee from Somalia, I've heard, who was held back for hours and hours at the airport
09:20entering the U.S. There were even in regular times before the World Cup, ICE agents even approaching
09:29playgrounds of children, basically football playgrounds, where they assumed to find people they wanted to
09:38detain in the end and even children would be detained by them. So there is something ongoing which can be
09:44of
09:44concern. And we have to observe it carefully. We have the issue with the Ebola outbreak in Congo.
09:52Generally, there would be a restriction for traveling from Congo to the U.S. We will see how that applies
09:58to
09:59the players and maybe the fans and everybody around. And of course, the big the elephant in the room,
10:05as the saying says, is that for the first time in history, two countries at war are not only meeting,
10:12but one of the countries is the host country and the other country sends a national team, which has already
10:17misused the whole situation for a political statement, by the way. I mean, the Iranian team. But we will
10:23see how this can be observed. Obviously, for the time being, Iran will only play in Mexico at this point.
10:29At this point in age, we cannot separate football from politics, right? There's the actual accusation
10:35of racism. You mentioned the Somali referee that came to Miami and wasn't let in. There was the team
10:42from Senegal that was, you know, pulled out of the plane, put on the tarmac and then had to undergo
10:49a very
10:49aggressive search operation. This is not really what we want to see at the World Cup, right? No. And I
10:57have to say
10:58that I think the FIFA is doing a very bad job in protecting their own referees. Some of the players
11:08and I guess also the
11:10supporters in dealing with the US administration in a way which like more or less is protecting
11:22the US administration and especially President Trump. And they want to avoid big conflicts with
11:29the current administration. And this I found quite weird in a way, I have to say, because I mean,
11:36you can have different opinions on the political situation in the US and so on. And it's maybe not
11:43up to the FIFA president to take a big stance on this, but not even protecting their own participants
11:50in their tournament, which are necessary to organize it. It's 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
12:16other questions. That means we want our debaters to challenge each other directly, just as you do
12:22in the hemicycle. Let's get started with Lukas Mandl. Dear colleague, you have advocated for boycotting
12:30the World Cup. I don't agree with that. I think the excitement about football is much bigger than
12:33politics can ever be. And the direct question would be, how would you explain to, let's say,
12:39a child excited about football, just interested into football and this exciting game, how would you
12:44explain to such a child to boycott the game? I did not advocate to boycott the tournament,
12:50especially not for supporters. But what I think politicians should do is to take a clear stance and to
12:56criticize both the FIFA but also the current US administration on the mistakes they are making
13:02when it also comes to organizing sports. And there I think that politicians have a different kind of
13:09responsibility, meaning that they should not travel there and be part of the tournament and green light
13:19both the actions of the FIFA and of the US president. So for me, it's not a general boycott, but
13:24I think as
13:25politicians, we should not go there and then support. We have to tell the child that most games are in
13:30the middle of the night.
13:32And that's also true. Watch it. All right, Raskus, your question. That'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,
13:47also with regulation we can do at European level, also because, and this is what I understood,
13:54you're also very critical about what we can see on the ticket prices, for example. So my question would be
14:01how should we address that or should we address that as legislators or is this something the FIFA and
14:08other organizations need to deal with? Well, thanks for the question because I also wanted to echo what
14:13you have just said that criticism is good, I think, but we also have to act to contribute to a
14:18better
14:18solution, better circumstances in four years from now when Europe will be mainly the soil where the
14:25World Cup will take place. And I think regulation is not the first word that comes to my mind when
14:30it
14:30comes to that, because I 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
14:41whole world, for a game that involves everybody, men and women, by the way, today more than ever,
14:46in four years more than today. And that it can also make the world a family in the best sense
14:53one can
14:54imagine. This will not happen to the full extent this year, but it can happen in four years when we
15:00contribute to responsibility. We must also not overestimate our say as lawmakers. I mean, we we make laws
15:07especially to protect freedom. And this is also the freedom of decision of FIFA, of UEFA as long as
15:15there are responsibility boundaries. And this is what I want to contribute to. And I think we can work on
15:21that together for in four years from now. Okay. Do you have another question to Rasmus? Who will win the
15:28World Cup?
15:30I hope my hope goes to Germany. That puts him in the bind here, I see. What? That puts you
15:36in a bind.
15:37Well, my hope goes to Germany, but I think it will be Spain or France.
15:43I just it occurs to me four years ago, the World Cup was in Qatar. Four years before that, it
15:50was in Russia.
15:51Does FIFA have a blind eye when it comes to, you know, hosting these tournaments? I mean, do we and
15:58then this year we have a huge discussion about, you know, Trump's America. Isn't that unfortunate?
16:04I mean, I'm not here in any way to defend FIFA. I think there are decision-takers with good decisions,
16:12with bad decisions. I just wanted to draw the picture on the larger overview. The decisions of
16:17the venues for games like this, especially the Football World Cup, have been taken many years before
16:22political developments broke out. And this was true for Russia. By the way, when we discuss Iran and
16:30USA today, we as Europeans know very well that with Russian sports teams in many areas, very often
16:37agents and spies come along. But I mean, also, I remember how naive the world was, not only FIFA,
16:44how naive when it came to the games in Qatar. All the world was about judging, for example, the labor
16:51standards when the stadiums were built and so on in Qatar. I have some confidence that today such
16:57naivety would not occur anymore. At least in Qatar the distances were shorter. Rasmus, your take on
17:04this and then we move on. Well, on the other side, like I think also back that time there had
17:10been a
17:10lot of criticism on that the tournament took place in Qatar because of good reasons, human rights
17:16situations, workers' rights and so on, freedom of media, for example. I think they have a blind spot. FIFA
17:24has a blind spot. And for me, this is an argument for that the big football associations like the FIFA
17:32are money driven and they are arguing with values they are not really following up to. And that's what I'm
17:42mostly criticizing. And this we could see on with a lot of examples. And this is what I think needs
17:48to
17:48change. Okay. Well, we've heard the views from our guests. Now it's time to hear from a new voice.
17:58I would like to bring in Gianni Infantino, the president of FIFA at the 50th UEFA Congress in Brussels in
18:06April. He
18:09said, our responsibility is to give 90 minutes of a match where people can forget their issues, the
18:15problems they have at home, they have in work, they have in their countries, they have on a political
18:22level. Is he right? Of course he's right. I mean, that's the basic thing you have to say, no matter
18:27whether one decision of him is bad, the other one would be good. One can argue about FIFA, about any
18:32organization as well. But of course, this quote is exactly how I see it. Well, from my perspective,
18:38he's not right, because that's not what he's doing and what he's participating in or how he's organizing
18:46the sports. Football had been community driven for more than 100 years. And I think that organizations
18:53like FIFA and people like Mr. Infantino are part of a process which are taking this away from football
19:05and where he basically is supporting commercialization and on the other side sports washing. So if he sits
19:15next to President Trump in the football stadium and he will sometimes be on camera,
19:23seen by people back home, then it's not so 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
19:36with Donald Trump. So I think he's right in what it should be about, but he's not living up to
19:44that.
19:45Completely. Let'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. I'm Stefan Grobe and I'm joined by Osmus Andresen
20:06from The Greens from Germany and Lukas Mandl from the European People's Party from Austria. At this point,
20:13let's take a look at fan excitement or should I say demand versus reality. According to FIFA,
20:21there have been over 500 million ticket requests and more than 5 million tickets have been allocated
20:27at early sales phases. But according to a survey by the American Hotel and Lodging Association,
20:3580% of hotel operators said bookings were below their initial forecasts. And between 65 and 70% of respondents
20:44said
20:45visa barriers and geopolitical concerns were suppressing international demand. So anticipated demand has not
20:54translated into strong hotel bookings so far. Your comments on this? Well, I mean, that's because of the general price
21:02level, I think,
21:03both when it comes to the tickets, but also to other elements you need to pay for 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
21:17because they want to be part of that. But this cannot be the case in the U.S. because it's
21:22far 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
21:32because of their nationality or because they maybe posted something on social media.
21:36the president doesn't like. There's also Canada and Mexico. We forgot about that. But the tournament mainly takes part in
21:43the U.S.
21:43That's right. That's right. The 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. This
22:04is not even a game for a minority.
22:06This is a game for maybe extremely wealthy people. If this goes that direction, this is absurd. This is wrong.
22:15Just to open a bracket here, the ticket for the final is about ten thousand dollars.
22:21I've even seen already larger prices in this dynamic pricing system than that. These extreme examples
22:28of 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?
22:42Well, 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
22:52organized 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
23:07here with this tournament than you had earlier.
23:11All right. Now it's time to move on to our fifth and final round.
23:18We're going to do something different. I'm going to ask you a set of questions and you can only answer
23:25with a yes or no. All right. Let's get started. Most matches will take place in the middle of the
23:32night.
23:33As I said, do you plan on watching them anyway? Absolutely. Austria will play one time. I think at
23:38four in the morning in Austrian time, I will definitely watch it. I even have invited friends for that.
23:43We will have morning coffee and watch Austria win. Okay. Okay. I will watch most of it, I guess,
23:49but sometimes we have to negotiate important legislation in the parliament and then I also
23:55need to get some rest to be ready for that. Okay. Has FIFA effectively turned World Cup 2026 into a
24:01political branding exercise for the host governments? Yes or no? Yes. And not for the good. I mean,
24:07they gave a peace prize to Donald Trump. I think no or not yet to be told. I don't agree
24:13with every
24:13FIFA decision, but for example, this very present decision about this peace prize for the current
24:19U.S. president by FIFA. I mean, it tells more about the current U.S. 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. I think the
24:42distances are the real problem, not that it's three nations. Talk about that. It makes it harder,
24:46but that's also a reason for supporting, for example, civil society, like supporter organizations,
24:52human rights organizations on the ground, which are doing extraordinary and good work,
24:58excellent work in following what is actually happening and also reporting back so that you can
25:05also come up with problems like in a political sphere. Will security and immigration politics
25:09become one of the defining stories of this tournament? I mean, that depends on us,
25:14how we perceive it as fans, as citizens, also in public sphere. I mean, if we pay attention to the
25:21current U.S. president more than to football, it's also partly our mistake. Football is king now.
25:25Okay. Okay. I don't think it's our mistake to criticize if referees are not allowed to enter the
25:31country or to discuss what is actually going on with the Trump administration when it comes to
25:40immigration and other questions. Security is part of this and both the FIFA and the U.S. administration
25:49are doing a lot, which then again needs to get the response. Okay. Next question. Will Austria win
25:57the World Cup? No. Of course. Of course, I support Austria and I'm a natural born optimist.
26:04The next question is, will Germany win the World Cup? Not at all. Okay. I'm afraid we won't do it,
26:10but I would love it. Okay. And finally, was there anything over the last half hour that you heard
26:19your opponents say that you agree with? I start with you. I've heard a lot, for example, the strong
26:24criticism on the ticket prices and the general development. I think where we maybe have a bit
26:30different opinion is on if politics should act. And I think we should act and we should come up with
26:36some
26:37solutions because we can see that FIFA is not able in doing that alone. Okay. Agreement with
26:42I agree with the excitement about football. I agree with a lot that has been stated already.
26:47I even agree that something has to be done. Maybe the how and what exactly has to be done is
26:52something
26:52we have to work out together, whether it's rather regulation or rather contributing to responsibility.
26:58I think political engineering is always the ultima ratio, the last possible option,
27:03not the first thing. And we will prove in Europe in four years from now, we will
27:08make it better and also learn from the lessons this time. But now, as I said, football is king.
27:13All right. Wonderful conclusion. And that final answer brings us to the end of this edition of
27:19The Ring. Thanks again to Rasmus Andresen and Lukas Mandl for a lively conversation here from the
27:24European Parliament. Thanks to our audience at home. If you like, you can continue the conversation by
27:31by sending us your comments to the ring at Euronews.com. We'd love to have your feedback.
27:36That's it for today. I'm Stefan Grobe. Take care and see you soon here on Euronews.
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