America is showing us football in its final dictator form – we can’t afford to look away

It has been an ominous week for the sport in the US but talk of a boycott of next year’s World Cup misses the point

FIT FOR OFFICE?: President Donald Trump poses for a photo with Carlos Cordeiro, former president of the United States Soccer Federation, left, FIFA president Gianni Infantino, and others in the Oval Office, Wednesday, June, 18, 2025, after meeting with the Juventus soccer club. Pic: Doug Mills/The New York Times via AP, Pool

Should we give it a miss? Is it best to stay away from next summer’s Trump-Infantino US World Cup? Depending on your politics the answer may be a resounding no or a bemused shrug. Some will see pure drive-by entertainment. Why would anyone want to boycott a month-long end-of-days Grand Soccer Parade staged by two of the world’s most cinematic egomaniacs?

But it is a question that has been asked, and will be asked a lot more in the next year. Those who intend to travel will need to answer it by action or omission. Would it be better for dissenting media and discomfited football fans to simply no-platform this event?