The Low Point

There are moments when the mask falls and the grimace behind it becomes visible. Moments when even the most skillful PR machinery can no longer conceal what has long been obvious: that modern soccer has sold its soul, that its officials have become court jesters to despots, that the beautiful game has mutated into an ugly stage for war criminals. What took place yesterday in the Oval Office was not a diplomatic faux pas. It was the bankruptcy declaration of a sport that once united people and today bows before mass murderers. Donald Trump pulls a photo from his drawer, shows it to the world public like a child his trading cards: Vladimir Putin, the man who lays Ukrainian cities in ruins, who buries children under rubble, who systematically terrorizes the civilian population of a sovereign state. “He would very much like to be here,” Trump announces with a grin, while FIFA President Gianni Infantino stands next to him like an accomplice caught in the act but too cowardly to flee.

Infantino, this Swiss apparatchik who likes to present himself as a reformer, stands silently while an American president offers war criminal Putin the stage. No contradiction, no unease, not even the attempt at a diplomatic distancing. Instead, the usual FIFA smile, that frozen grin we already know from Qatar, where guest workers died for stadiums, that we know from Russia, where opposition figures disappeared while the ball rolled.

The Bill of Shame

While Infantino remains silent, people are dying. Not somewhere, not abstract, but concrete, measurable, documented. Over 10,000 Ukrainian civilians have been killed since the beginning of the Russian invasion. Tens of thousands injured. Millions displaced. Cities eradicated. Cultural sites destroyed. And FIFA? Donates one million dollars - less than Infantino’s annual salary - and calls it humanitarian aid. One million dollars, while Ukrainian soccer clubs lose their existence, while stadiums turn into ruins, while players die at the front instead of standing on the field. Serhii Palkin of Shakhtar Donetsk put it clearly: FIFA ignored Ukrainian soccer from the very beginning. Worse still: it betrayed it. While Russian bombs fall on Ukrainian cities, while a US weapons factory in Ukraine is hit by Russian missiles - Trump casually let it be known that Putin’s wish for World Cup participation is by no means unrealistic - and insiders shared with us today, although unconfirmed, that even FIFA is already considering corresponding preparations.

Switzerland, this country that has an extraordinary tradition of humanitarian aid, has taken in over 68,000 Ukrainian refugees. The confederation invests billions in reconstruction and mine clearance. And then comes Infantino, its most prominent sports official, and nullifies all these efforts with his silent consent to Putin’s obscene request. He is the gravedigger of FIFA’s last credibility.

The Boycott as a Moral Duty

Enough. Enough with the excuses, enough with looking away, enough with separating sports and politics. If a war criminal is not immediately and officially declared an unwanted person at the World Cup while his bombs are still falling, then sports are nothing more than politics. Then every ticket is a capitulation, every cheer a betrayal, every broadcast a complicity. The 2026 World Cup must be boycotted. Not by governments - they have long proven they are too cowardly. Not by associations - they are part of the system. But by us. By the fans who love this sport and precisely therefore cannot allow it to become a propaganda stage for mass murderers. Do not buy a ticket. Do not watch a broadcast. Do not consume sponsor products. The highly paid stars, the Mbappés, Kanes, Neuers and Haalands of this world, they all must be asked: How much is your integrity worth to you? How many dead children in Mariupol weigh against a World Cup title? How many destroyed lives is a sponsorship contract worth? They have the power to put an end to this madness. A collective boycott by the players would bring FIFA to its knees. But they will remain silent, as they always remain silent, will babble about respect and about the unifying power of soccer while the bombs fall. UEFA, the Bundesliga, the Premier League, and, and, and … - they all could take a stand. They could say: Not with us. Not under these conditions. Not with this FIFA president. But they will not do it. Too much money in the game, too many entanglements, too much fear of consequences.

The Point of No Return

What we are experiencing is not only a moral crisis of soccer. It is its moral collapse. If Putin actually sits in an American stadium in 2026, surrounded by security forces and cameras, while people continue to die in Ukraine, then soccer has definitively died. Then the beautiful game has become an ugly spectacle, international understanding a mockery of the victims, FIFA a criminal organization that differs from a mafia structure only by the immunity of its Swiss headquarters. Infantino must resign. Immediately. Without ifs and buts. Every day he remains in office is an insult to every person who lost their life in Ukraine. Every press conference he holds is a slap in the face of the bereaved. Every smile for the cameras is a mockery of the suffering.

But he will not resign. People like Infantino never resign. They cling to their power, to their privileges, to their million-dollar salaries, until someone carries them out of office. And that is exactly what we must do. We must carry them out, these accomplices of war, these stirrups of dictators, these gravediggers of sports. Soccer stands at a turning point. Either it remembers its values, its responsibility, its humanity. Or it sinks definitively into a swamp of money, corruption and blood. The decision lies with us all. With everyone who buys a ticket or refrains. With everyone who tunes in or turns off. With everyone who remains silent or raises their voice. History will judge us. It will ask: What did you do when soccer became the stage for war criminals? What was your answer when Infantino stood next to Trump and remained silent while Putin wanted to come to the World Cup? Did you look away? Did you go along? Or did you say no?

The time for excuses is over. The time for action has come. Boycott the 2026 World Cup. Not for politics, but for Ukraine and for the soul of soccer. For what is left of it.

“If you want to give your opinion on this, here is the FIFA e-mail address:”

info@fifa.org

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