FIFA World Cup boycott ‘self-evident’ under Trump’s ‘racist, vile’ regime: Activist

By Mohammad Ali Haqshenas

The United States is no longer a safe or credible host for a global sporting event with sweeping travel bans, rising internal repression, and an increasingly aggressive foreign policy, making a boycott of the 2026 World Cup not radical but inevitable, according to an activist and artist.

In an interview with the Press TV website, Willie Dowling, an activist who also happens to be a multi-instrumentalist, singer and composer, said there were "enough reasons" for the world to boycott the FIFA World Cup to be co-hosted by the United States before the announcement of recent restrictions placed on travel.

Dowling’s case begins with borders and who is allowed to cross them. Even before new restrictions were announced in January 2026, he noted that 19 countries were already subject to full entry bans to the United States, with another nineteen facing partial restrictions.

“Without exception, all of the nations banned or partially banned have mostly non-white populations,” he told the Press TV website.

“The extraordinarily rapid decline of the United States into an even more racist, authoritarian nation than it has historically been should be reason enough not to go there for the football.”

The bans, he believes, are not bureaucratic hurdles but warnings. “This should serve as a warning to everyone that it is not safe to go to the US, particularly if you are non-white.”

These concerns are no longer theoretical. Campaigns urging fans, players, and national associations to stay away from the US-hosted tournament have gained momentum across Europe, Latin America, Africa, and parts of Asia.

The possibility of a direct boycott by a competing nation has also become a reality in the wake of the Trump regime’s acts of aggression abroad.

Iran could essentially boycott the World Cup in response to the unprovoked US-Israeli war of aggression, which began on February 28 and targeted the country's nuclear facilities, schools, hospitals, bridges, as well as sports infrastructure. 

Pointing to the "malicious actions carried out against Iran," Iranian Sports Minister Ahmad Donyamali stated recently,  "Our players do not have security, and fundamentally the conditions for participation do not exist."

The US government has also restricted Iran's participation. While FIFA president Gianni Infantino claimed that the Iranian team is "welcome to compete," the US president warned that the Iranian team’s "life and safety" would be at risk if it participated in the event. 

Trump administration has also barred travelers from Iran and three other World Cup-participating countries, and multiple Iranian delegates already had their visas denied before December’s group-stage draw.

Activist groups cite visa denials, expanded anti-immigration policies, internal security crackdowns, and US military aggression abroad. Some governments have quietly raised concerns about whether fans and journalists can enter — and remain — safely.

Dowling sees a boycott as leverage. “Nor is it wise to give Trump and his regime anything they can use as a successful publicity event,” he noted.

Individual choices matter, he argued, because they scale. “As individuals, we can’t do much to help bring down this vile regime, but little actions by millions of people — like not buying US goods or not travelling to the US — will start to hit the US economy and thereby affect Trump’s standing with his own MAGA zealots,” he stated.

The argument extends well beyond immigration. Dowling pointed to foreign policy and to broken promises. “Let’s remember Trump campaigned to win the Presidency on a policy of ‘No more foreign wars’ and ‘No more regime changes’.”

The reality, he added, looks very different. “And yet in under a year he has bombed several countries, and militarily threatened five others, including long-standing allies.”

In Dowling’s view, these actions are not just aggressive but also unlawful. “All of his military interventions fly in the face of International Law and Human Rights."

Against that backdrop, the idea of hosting the world’s biggest sporting event in the US feels absurd to him. “In light of this, it seems almost extraordinary to me that there is even a question about boycotting the World Cup in the US.”

He drew a direct comparison. “The existential threat coming from the US far exceeds that of any other nation on the planet, and since Russia has experienced a boycott, it seems perfectly logical — if not blindingly obvious — that the USA should be boycotted, internationally isolated and sanctioned.”

For Dowling, the issue is credibility. “What good is ‘rules-based order’ if the most powerful nation in the world consistently flaunts any rule they choose to?”

The danger, he hastened to add, is not only external, but domestic. “Incidentally, it’s interesting that Trump said: ‘No more foreign wars’, because it looks increasingly likely that he’s going to spark a civil war in the US.”

Dowling believes internal unrest may be politically useful. “I suspect he’s continually provoking dissent and protest in the US in order to declare a national emergency and invoke the Insurrection Act, thereby cancelling the midterm elections, which he would otherwise lose and then face immediate impeachment and probably jail.”

And he sees a longer game. “And should he succeed in cancelling the midterms, he’ll undoubtedly seek a way to cancel the 2028 election.”

The implications, he noted, are chilling. “This increasingly authoritarian grip and the casual willingness of the Trump regime to either censor, jail, extradite, or even murder those of a different colour or those in opposition to them are reasons enough to boycott the football.”

Some calls to stay away have come from inside football itself. Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter and several European officials recently suggested fans would be safer watching from home rather than going all the way to the stadiums in the US.

Dowling’s criticism sharpened when it turned to FIFA’s conduct under Trump.

He cited “the ludicrous ‘Peace Award’ the football governing body presented to Trump, only days before he bombed Venezuela to steal their oil.”

The timing, he added, came “long after the US military assaults on other nations in the previous months of 2025.”

“The idea of Trump qualifying for any award in the name of peace is laughable,” Dowling said. “And FIFA inexplicably made themselves part of that ridiculous hypocrisy.”

At the heart of the boycott argument is exclusion. “The ban on travel and the visa policies imposed by the US extend almost exclusively to nations that have predominantly non-white populations,” Dowling stated.

“This is typical of the Trump regime … of course, they consistently deny their racism, but one only needs to observe their actions to see that they don’t match the rhetoric.”

He described a governing style built on misinformation, referring to the Trump administration. “This is a regime that has adopted lying as its key strategy.” He invokes a phrase popularized by Trump’s former adviser. “As Steve Bannon said — with strong echoes of Joseph Goebbels — ‘Flood the zone with shit’.” The goal, Dowling argues, is distraction.

“I suspect they might have been even further down the line with their objectives had they not started to attack their own white population in democratic states, particularly recently in Minnesota,” he added, pointing to recent violence.

The standard, he said, is racial. “The US and indeed the Western world tends to be more tolerant towards murder if it’s non-whites that are being killed.”

Which brings him back to football. And to first principles. “How can a sporting event be described as ‘global’ if 39% of the world’s nations are exempt from the racist whims of the Trump regime?”

For Dowling, the conclusion needs no embellishment. “Taking all of the above into account, I’d suggest that the moral case for a boycott is self-evident.”

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