The countries are in full swing – will arrange together • Lundh: “Power and pressure”
The World Cup in football 2026 will be played in the US, Mexico and Canada.
Olof Lundh believes it will be politicized – and at the center of everything is a certain US president.
– What it will mainly depend on is whether supporters who come to the World Cup will be able to travel freely between the countries. It can be suspected that they will not be able to do as it looks now, he says.
The Swedish men’s national team will qualify against Switzerland, Slovenia and Kosovo to get to the World Cup 2026. If you manage to play the championship in the USA, Canada and Mexico which arrange it together.
But since Donald Trump took over as new president of the United States, it has been messy between the countries. Trump has threatened with customs, made statements that Canada will become the US 51st state and accused Mexico of not wanting to stop migration to the United States.
The football channel’s editor -in -chief and responsible publisher Olof Lundh believes that the championship can become a politicized one.
– It is clear that it will affect the World Cup if the three organizers are not friends. What it will mainly hang on is whether supporters who come to the World Cup will be able to travel freely between the countries. It can be suspected that they will not be able to do as it looks now. It would be a setback for Fifa and for the World Cup at large. It may not be guaranteed that you will enter the US if you have tickets for matches in Mexico or Canada, he says.
The FIFA base has pasted to Trump
Olof Lundh describes a huge charge between the countries and mentions, among other things, the hot hockey match between Canada and the United States in the Four Nations tournament. But he thinks it is difficult to point out exactly what consequences the bad relationships can have for the championship.
– This type of tension can hardly benefit. It is a joint World Cup organization that will organize the ever-largest championship in World Cup history, then you need to work together and not against each other. If the largest country works against the other two countries, it can never be a good foundation for football, says Olof Lundh and continues:
-In addition, we have seen how the Fifa base Gianni Infantino clearly pasted to Donald Trump and praises him, but does not have the same attitude to the leaders in Canada and Mexico.
What does the relationship between the world’s most powerful man and Gianni Infantino look like?
– Trump says in front of Gianni Infantino that he thinks it is good to have tension between the countries before the World Cup. On the contrary, it goes against what Infantino says that football should unite people and make an effort for people not to argue. Then he allies with Donald Trump who does nothing but argue with people and throws himself with his power and pressure. Then Gianni Infantino stands next to it and just grins, I think that is a problem. Trump sustens and reigns the best he wants and it is contrary to what Infantino says the sport should stand for.
Olof Lundh believes that there is a different pressure from the outside world against the United States and that the World Championship 2026 will be very questioned the closer we get. He also believes that there will be discussions whether or not supporters and national teams should go.
– It will be interesting to see if it becomes a political championship which cannot be excluded. Right now, nothing can be excluded. It is not impossible, for example, Iran, how will Trump handle it? After all, the United States has put hard pressure on them. The United States has a president who goes to the right and left. It could probably be a different focus than people thought it would be around this championship, he says.