Rudi Völler, sporting director of the German national team, told a weekly sports talk show recently that while there would be no gag order, “it cannot be that it’s being talked about, practically on a matchday like with this disaster in Qatar.” He was referring to the One Love armband debate at the 2022 World Cup, which Germany and several other teams dropped after FIFA threatened sanctions. Germany then staged a pre-match protest ahead of the Japan game by posing for the team photo with their mouths covered — a gesture that drew heavy criticism.
Jürgen Mittag, a professor of sports politics at the German Sport University Cologne, says the backlash was intensified by Germany’s poor performance in the tournament. “But as it was, they were met with a great deal of ridicule because they were symbolically strong but sportingly weak,” he told DW. Had the team gone further in the tournament, Mittag believes public reaction might have been different.
Michael Mutz, a professor of social sciences in sports at Justus-Liebig University Giessen, doubts Germany will make high-profile political statements at the 2026 World Cup. “I can’t imagine that the DFB will actively pursue a political agenda against the host country again after the negative experiences in Qatar,” he said. Mutz adds that the German Football Association (DFB) risks accusations of double standards if it vocally criticized Qatar but remains silent about the United States; he believes the DFB will likely accept that trade-off.
Mittag argues Germany’s ability to push a values-based sports diplomacy has been weakened by broader European fragmentation. He points to a decline in unified EU foreign-policy action and rising geopolitical tensions as factors that limit the support Germany can marshal in sports and diplomatic arenas. Germany has tried to be proactive in sports diplomacy but has often found little backing from partners, he says.
One illustrative example is Germany’s opposition to the return of Russia and Belarus to the Olympics. Despite vigorous efforts to build an alliance against their reinstatement, Germany received only limited support — a setback that, according to Mittag, prompted a strategic rethink. “Germany realized that it needs to pursue a different strategy. It doesn’t want to give up its position, but placing too much emphasis on moral, value-based issues is strategically clumsy,” he said. The result: a shift toward more pragmatic, realpolitik approaches in sports diplomacy.
The DFB’s new CEO, Andreas Rettig, appointed in 2023, could be instrumental in rebuilding alliances and strengthening Germany’s influence in committees. But his attempt to initiate pre-tournament dialogue on critical issues ahead of the 2024 European Championship met with little enthusiasm from regional associations, showing the limits of top-down initiatives.
Voices inside Germany vary. Oke Göttlich, St. Pauli president and DFB vice president, recently advised against traveling to the US “given the current situation in the country.” By contrast, Bayern Munich and Germany captain Joshua Kimmich said after a Champions League match that he would “no longer be taking part in the political discussion.” The DFB has not publicly taken a firm line.
Mittag sees a clear shift: “There has been a realpolitik shift in sports diplomacy, it’s somewhat less value-based, somewhat more realistic and acting pragmatically in order to perhaps achieve more success than in the past.” In practice, that means the association and players are more likely to avoid high-profile political gestures that could backfire or be perceived as inconsistent.
Public engagement with the tournament could also decline. Germany’s TV viewership dipped for the World Cup in Qatar, and Mittag expects another fall in 2026, in part because many Europeans face inconvenient kickoff times. He predicts some people will consciously reduce their watching as a mild form of protest: “I’m aware of this World Cup, but I’m not going to watch it all. I’m not as enthusiastic as in previous years, and in a small way, I’m expressing my criticism.”
When the team arrives in the United States, players and staff will be asked about the political and social climate surrounding the tournament. How they answer will be shaped by many factors — not least their on-field performance. Mutz emphasizes that identification with the national team depends less on political positions and more on whether the team is seen as likeable, approachable, and successful.
“There is also a growing awareness in society that we are living in times of crisis and that political opinions are highly polarized,” Mutz added. In such times, the national football team can be an important anchor for collective identification across social and political divides. But that unifying power is weakened if the team is perceived as overly political.
Edited by: Chuck Penfold
This article was updated on January 26, 2026 to include the statement from the St. Pauli President.