How geopolitics enters the football fields

Two countries at war will meet in a month in a football stadium. For the World Cup 2026 co-hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada – an unlikely trio of countries that have barely gotten along since the start of Trump’s second term – the president of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), Gianni Infantino got the Iranian team qualified for this competition to play in the United States. “Their health, or even their lives, could be threatened due to the political-military situation between the United States and Iran,” the American president warned.

More Gianni Infantinothe Swiss boss of FIFA, is one of the most zealous leaders in the world of sport to praise the American president. He also awarded him thee FIFA Peace Prize. Not indifferent to honors, Donald Trump returned to his statements about Iran’s participation in the World Cup. “If Gianni said it, then I don’t see any harm in it,” he said.

However, it is not certain that Iran will participate. The Revolutionary Guards in power in Tehran do not want to please Donald Trump. And they did not forget that five Iranian players had defectedobtaining asylum in Australia during the Asian Cup last year.

Gazprom and the lifting of sanctions against Russia

Football has always been a geopolitical terrain where states buy virtue. This was the case of Russia, which had made itself indispensable to UEFA, the European association and FIFA by making Gazprom, the energy company run by the Putin clan, a major sponsor (several tens of millions per year). It took the war in Ukraine for football authorities to put an end to this partnership.

But last February, Gianni Infantino said he was in favor of lifting sanctions against Russiaon the British channel Sky News, and the return of Russian oil money which finances the war in Ukraine.

Until recently, players were just required to wear the sponsor’s jersey, like those of the German club Schalke until 2022 or those of the Red Star of Belgrade with Gazpromstill today. But that is changing.

The last four of the Champions League like Rwanda

In the last four of the Champions League clubs (PSG, like Arsenal, Bayern Munich and Athletico Madrid), all have signed a partnership with the Rwanda Development Board, making Rwanda a sponsor of the club and of “Visit Rwanda”, the slogan plastered on the jerseys.

At PSG, the players even recorded videos broadcast on the networks to promote the country led by Paul Kagaméwhich also sponsors a rebellion in war against Congo DRC, its neighbor. Since 2022, in fact, the Rwandan army has supported the soldiers of the March 23 Movement (M23) who harass the Congolese army in North and South Kivu.

Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Democratic Republic of Congo, denounced the “bloody sponsorship” of these European football clubs, while the Rwandan opposition denounces political repression and non-respect of human rights. man by the Kagamé regime.

However, these videos are not just about celebrating the country’s tourist assets. In a clip commemorating the genocide of the Tutsis, the players of the Parisian team, including Mbappé at the time, praised the transformations of the country and the progress made by the country led by Paul Kagamé and took up a slogan of the regime «Remember, Unite, Renew».