Post: Geopolitics and sport: state of disunity!

The American dream becomes the American nightmare for some! The political exploitation of sport directly threatens its primary mission: to unite people around respect and tolerance. Unify. A word that is devoid of all its meaning, currently, in the United States! Examples of exclusion abound in the media and on social networks on the eve of the biggest sports festival in the world.

Somali referee Omar Artan was questioned for eleven hours upon his arrival on American soil before being rejected! “I’m just a referee trying to live his biggest dream, to go to the World Cup. I’m really, really disappointed. I had the right papers and the right visa. I think they have a problem with my country.”he blurted.

For what ? The head of the White House team responsible for organizing the World Cup, Andrew Giuliani, assured that the repression of a referee. “There have been officials who have been denied entry and for good reasons.”he said, referring to the need to prevent “Malicious actors coming to the country under the cover of the World Cup”. The head of the border police (CBP), for his part, justified the refoulement of Omar Artan by «problèmes liés à la vérification de ses antécédents». A US State Department official told AFP that the arbitrator was “Linked to people suspected of belonging to terrorist organizations”.

Either! Is the intelligence service in the same lineage as those who judged that Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old American nurse, shot dead by federal ICE agents in Minneapolis, was dangerous? Or in the same vein as those who concluded that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction?

There should be no confusion. Football, the premier discipline on a global scale, must imperatively preserve its neutrality. No discrimination – whether based on nationality, ethnic origin or political opinions – should justify the exclusion of players from the game. Or be victims of American migration policy.

Iraq’s star striker, Aymen Hussein, was held for almost seven hours last Saturday at Chicago airport. The player’s phone was notably inspected at length, an Iraqi official told the Guardian. Several Arab media have denounced an interrogation carried out “as if he were a terrorist”. The player was eventually allowed to enter the territory. However, the selection’s official photographer, Talal Salah, was refused entry even though he had a valid visa. Salah, a weapon of mass destruction? In Liverpool, yes! But as a photographer, Talal Salah, no one knows…

Football is an Olympic discipline, therefore governed by the Olympic Charter which stipulates that “sport is practiced within the framework of society” and that “Sports organizations within the Olympic Movement must apply the principle of political neutrality”.

However, sanctions targeting players, referees or supporters raise legitimate doubts about the fairness of international bodies. By blocking the participation of certain players in world competitions, these measures undermine the principles of sporting justice. Sport is not the property of any state; it is a universal common heritage. The Iranian Football Federation has claimed that the United States has removed the quota of tickets allocated to Iranian fans for the World Cup, now preventing the federation from distributing tickets through its official system. “Depriving Iranian fans of access to their legal and official quota of tickets goes against the spirit of international competitions and the principle of equality between participating countries.”a estimé la fédération.

Do you know the best one? This is an excerpt from the speech given by FIFA President Gianni Infantino after the first Club World Cup in history held in Uncle Sam’s country a year ago: “I think it is important to clarify this point. There are a lot of misconceptions floating around. Everyone will be welcome in Canada, Mexico and the United States for the FIFA World Cup next year. There is a procedure to follow for obtaining visas, etc. This procedure will go smoothly. We want to unite the world and we will do it next year. The world needs opportunities to unite, to bring teams together, to bring people together, to bring fans together… So, again, everyone will be welcome. Stay positive and you will see that it will be a great, great celebration of the greatest FIFA World Cup of all time.”

The stadiums must remain spaces of fraternal communion, protected from diplomatic tensions. When sport becomes a political weapon, it loses its soul. He’s already lost a little in recent days. Fortunately the actors, the real ones, are taking the stage this evening, after the opening ceremony where the speeches will ring hollow! Peace, love, union etc. Really?