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Mondial : Trump a-t-il déjà gâché l'ambiance ? Des eurodéputés débattent dans The Ring
La Coupe du monde bat son plein, plus grand événement sportif de l'année suivi par des millions de personnes dans le monde. Pourtant, l'ambiance est étonnamment morose: ventes de billets et réservations hôtelières déçoivent, et l'immigration fait la une, surtout aux États-Unis.
LIRE L’ARTICLE : http://fr.euronews.com/2026/06/15/mondial-trump-a-t-il-deja-gache-lambiance-des-eurodeputes-debattent-dans-the-ring
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La Coupe du monde bat son plein, plus grand événement sportif de l'année suivi par des millions de personnes dans le monde. Pourtant, l'ambiance est étonnamment morose: ventes de billets et réservations hôtelières déçoivent, et l'immigration fait la une, surtout aux États-Unis.
LIRE L’ARTICLE : http://fr.euronews.com/2026/06/15/mondial-trump-a-t-il-deja-gache-lambiance-des-eurodeputes-debattent-dans-the-ring
Abonnez-vous à notre chaine. Euronews est disponible sur Dailymotion en 12 langues
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NewsTranscription
00:08Hello and welcome to The Ring, Euronews' weekly debate show broadcasting from the European Parliament in Brussels.
00:15I'm Stefan Grobe.
00:16On The Ring, debaters go face-to-face on some of the top political issues facing Europe.
00:23Today we want to talk about one of the biggest events of the year, the FIFA Football World Cup 2026.
00:30It's uniting the world, creating a vibe of friendship and festivity and leaving politics outside.
00:37Now, if you believe that, you better think twice.
00:41Luis Alberto tells you why.
00:45This week the FIFA Football World Cup will kick off, 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 fueled such controversial debates in
01:03the 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 covering almost an
01:13entire continent
01:14and expanding the number of teams from 32 to 48, with more than 1,200 players taking part.
01:22Then there's the exploding ticket prices, the fan boycotts, security concerns, whether Iran and Congo can take part, Trump, racism,
01:31the 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?
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.
02:00He is a member of the Committees on Budget, Economic and Monetary Affairs, as well as a delegation for relations
02:06with 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.
02:24Lukas 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.
02:36In the run-up to the 2026 World Cup, he says,
02:39For these few weeks, football makes the world a family.
02:42To make it political or posh will not help.
02:49So let me welcome to the ring, Lukas Mandl and Rasmus Andresen.
02:53Great to have you here. Good to see you.
02:56Now, 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 politicise 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.
03:44Well, 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 U
04:01.S.,
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
04:17and 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,
04:34which is cross-border, and cross-border even more provides sports to be a factor that makes people a family,
04:42the world a family. So it's good that there are three host countries.
04:46Of course, there are always also political implications, also due to the current U.S. president, of course.
04:53But 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.
05:17And if you ask me, I think the tournament is far 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.
05:35And in a way, you can say that's fine.
05:37Sports had always been a business.
05:39But for me, some of the decisions made by the FIFA in the run-up for the tournament have been
05:47too 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.
05:57The 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 it's going to be in Spain, Portugal and Morocco.
06:17It's also kind of an odd mix.
06:20Exactly.
06:20Yeah.
06:21That part at least will be better in four years when we will have it in Europe together with Morocco,
06:26of course,
06:27because 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?
06:52I 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.
07:13If 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 all of the different games.
07:20But 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.
07:34But also to travel in the U.S., 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.
07:53Well, when you're talking 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, ten 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.
08:19Not 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.
08:46So we must not forget that.
08:48But 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, basically football playgrounds,
09:33where 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, and 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.
10:03And, of course, the big elephant in the room, as the saying says, is that for the first time in
10:08history, two countries at war are not only meeting, but one of the countries is the host country.
10:14And the other country sends a national team, which has already misused the whole situation for a political statement, by
10:20the way.
10:20I mean, the Iranian team.
10:21But we will see how this can be observed, obviously, for the time being.
10:27So we cannot separate football from politics at this point.
10:29At this point in age, we cannot separate football from politics, right?
10:34There's the accusation of racism.
10:36You mentioned a Somali referee that came to Miami and wasn't let in.
10:41That 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?
10:56No.
10:56And I have to say that I think the FIFA is doing a very bad job in protecting their own
11:05referees, some of the players, and I guess also the supporters.
11:11In dealing with the U.S. administration in a way which, like, more or less is protecting the U.S.
11:23administration 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 U.S. and so on.
11:42And it's maybe not up to the FIFA president to take a big stance on this.
11:46But not even protecting their own participants in their tournament, which are necessary to organize it, is in a way
11:56weird from my perspective.
11:57Let me just stop you here.
11:57We'll be talking about this in a moment as we are just getting warmed up here.
12:03Now it's time for gloves off.
12:10Now 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 Lukas Mandl.
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,
12:44how 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,
12:57but also the current U.S. 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,
13:11meaning that they should not travel there and be part of the tournament and greenlight both the actions of the
13:20FIFA and of the U.S. president.
13:22So 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.
13:32And it is also true.
13:34Watch it.
13:34All right.
13:34Raskus, 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,
13:47also with regulation we can do at European level,
13:51also because, and this is what I understood,
13:54you're also very critical about what we can see on the ticket prices, for example.
13:59So my question would be how should we address that or should we address that as legislators
14:05or is this something 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,
14:13that criticism is good, I think.
14:15But we also have to act to contribute to a better solution, better circumstances in four years from now,
14:21when Europe will be mainly the soil where the World Cup will take place.
14:26and I think regulation is not the first word that comes to my mind when it comes to that,
14:31because I think there is a lot of freedom and opportunity to decide responsibly.
14:35But I think what we need is clear lines for what responsibility means,
14:39for a game that affects the whole world, for a game that involves everybody,
14:44men and women, by the way, today more than ever, in four years more than today,
14:48and that it can also make the world a family in the best sense one can imagine.
14:54This will not happen to the full extent this year, but it can happen in four years
14:59when we contribute to 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,
15:14as 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.
15:25Okay.
15:25Do 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.
15:34What?
15:35That puts you in a bind now.
15:37My hope goes to Germany, but I think it will be Spain or France.
15:43It 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 hosting these tournaments?
15:57I mean, do we – and this year we have a huge discussion about, you know, Trump's America.
16:02Isn'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,
16:20have been taken many years before political developments broke out.
16:25And this was true for Russia.
16:28By the way, when we discuss Iran and USA today, we as Europeans know very well that
16:33with Russian sports teams 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,
16:44how naive when it came to the games in Qatar.
16:47All the world was about judging, for example, the labor standards
16:51when the stadiums were built and 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.
17:03Rasmus, your 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
17:11on that the tournament took place in Qatar because of good reasons,
17:15human rights situations, workers' rights and so on, freedom of media, for example.
17:22I think they have a blind spot.
17:24FIFA has a blind spot.
17:25And for me, this is an argument for that the big football associations like the FIFA are money-driven
17:34and they 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.
17:47And this is what I think needs to change.
17:49Okay.
17:50Well, we've heard the views from our guests.
17:52Now it's time to hear from a new voice.
17:58I would like to bring in Gianni Infantino, the president of FIFA,
18:03at the 50th UEFA Congress in Brussels in April.
18:07He said this.
18:09Our responsibility is to give 90 minutes of a match where people can forget their issues,
18:15the problems they have at home, they have in work, they have in their countries,
18:19they have on a political level.
18:23Is he right?
18:23Of course he's right.
18:25I mean, that's the basic thing you have to say.
18:27No matter whether one decision of him is bad, the other one would be good.
18:30One can argue about FIFA, about any organization as well.
18:33But, of course, this quote is exactly how I see it.
18:37Well, from my perspective, he's not right because that's not what he's doing
18:42and what he's participating in or how he's organizing the sports.
18:47Football had been community-driven for more than 100 years.
18:51And I think that organizations like FIFA and people like Mr. Infantino are part of a process which are taking
19:04this away from football
19:05and where he basically is supporting commercialization and, on the other side, sports washing.
19:14So if he sits next to President Trump in a football stadium and he will sometimes be on camera, seen
19:23by people back home,
19:24then it's not so easy for immigrants, for example, to enjoy the nice game they want to see being played
19:31because they are confronted with his brothership, with a friendship 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.
19:48We'll be back with more after this.
19:51Don't go away.
20:00Welcome back to The Ring, Euronews' weekly debate show.
20:03I'm Stefan Grob and I'm joined by Asmus Andresen from The Greens from Germany
20:08and Lukas Mandl from the European People's Party from Austria.
20:12At this point, let's take a look at fan excitement, or should I say demand versus reality.
20:19According to FIFA, there have been over 500 million ticket requests,
20:25and more than 5 million tickets have been allocated at early sales phases.
20:30But according to a survey by the American Hotel and Lodging Association,
20:3580% of hotel operators said bookings were below their initial forecasts,
20:41and between 65% and 70% of respondents said visa barriers and geopolitical concerns
20:48were suppressing international demand.
20:51So, anticipated demand has not translated into strong hotel bookings so far.
20:58Your comments on this?
20:59Well, I mean, that's because of the general price level, I think,
21:03both when it comes to the tickets,
21:06but 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
21:15or can't afford the tickets because they want to be part of that.
21:19But this cannot be the case in the U.S. because it's far too expensive.
21:23And then there are some political issues that people have concerns about going there
21:27because they don't know if they are 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.
21:38There's also Canada and Mexico.
21:39Yeah, but we forgot about that so far.
21:41But the tournament mainly takes part in the U.S.
21:43Lucas, that's right, that's right.
21:44The ticket prices are a sign of a decadent society.
21:49Not all ticket prices, but when it comes to this dynamic pricing,
21:52the algorithms in the end,
21:54the numbers that are told from there are absolutely crazy.
21:59It's like when the ancient Rome came to an end.
22:02This 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,
22:17the ticket for the final is about $10,000.
22:21I've 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
22:31are 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.
22:43I mean, you can still go in a bar and follow it.
22:46I know very well that the new mayor of New York City,
22:49Sora Mandani,
22:50he is a big football fan and he organized some community-driven events
22:55like 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
23:06in the public sphere with this tournament than you had earlier.
23:11All right.
23:11Now 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
23:23and you can only answer with a yes or no.
23:27All right.
23:28Let's get started.
23:30Most matches will take place in the middle of the night.
23:33As I said, do you plan on watching them anyway?
23:36Absolutely.
23:37Austria will play one time.
23:38I think it's four in the morning in Austrian time.
23:40I will definitely watch it.
23:42I even have invited friends for that.
23:43We will have morning coffee and watch Austria win.
23:45Okay.
23:45Okay.
23:46I will watch most of it, I guess.
23:49But 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.
23:57Okay.
23:58Has FIFA effectively turned World Cup 2026
24:01into a political branding exercise for the host governments?
24:05Yes or no?
24:05Yes.
24:06And not for the good.
24:07I mean, they gave a peace prize to Donald Trump.
24:10I think no or not yet to be told.
24:12I don't agree with every FIFA decision.
24:14But for example, this very present decision about this peace prize
24:18for the current U.S. president by FIFA,
24:20I 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.
24:42I think the distances are the real problem, not that it's three nations.
24:44Talked 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,
24:59in following what is actually happening and also reporting back
25:03so 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?
25:13I 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 U.S. president more than to football,
25:23it's also partly our mistake. Football is king now.
25:25Okay.
25:26I don't think it's our mistake to criticize if referees are not allowed to enter the country
25:31or to discuss 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 U.S. administration are doing a lot,
25:51which then again needs to get a response.
25:54Okay.
25:55Next question.
25:56Will 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
26:20that you agree with?
26:21I start with you.
26:22I've heard a lot.
26:23For example, the strong criticism on the ticket prices and general development.
26:28I 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
26:37because we can see that FIFA is 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,
26:54whether it's rather regulation or rather contributing to responsibility.
26:58I 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.
27:12All 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.
27:37I'm Stefan Grobe.
27:39Take care and see you soon here on Euronews.
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