Das Spiel der starken Männer

In the summer of 2026, the World Cup will take place in the USA, Mexico and Canada. At the same time, on July 4, 2026, the USA will celebrate the 250th anniversary of its independence. Donald Trump has been using sport for his America First policy for some time now: in American football, martial arts and golf. And now he is entering into an alliance with FIFA President Infantino, for which he has been rewarded with the newly created FIFA Peace Prize.

In doing so, he is reinforcing a global trend, as heads of state have been using soccer for nationalism for years. Serbian President Vučić relies on the support of hooligans during demonstrations. Turkish President Erdoğan has stadiums built in regions where his party is popular. And Saudi Arabia is pushing ahead with the transformation by hosting the 2034 World Cup.

How does soccer reinforce nationalism and what remains of the beautiful game when the stadium becomes a stage for the powerful?
Who is actually instrumentalizing whom here and what can be done to counter this development?

We will discuss these and other questions in the legendary stadium on Schleißheimer Straße:

Johannes Aumüller
Managing editor of Süddeutsche Zeitung for sports politics

Ronny Blaschke
is an author and journalist specializing in political issues in sport. He works for Deutschlandfunk, Süddeutsche Zeitung and Frankfurter Rundschau, among others.

Claudia Roth, Member of the Bundestag
Former Minister of State for Culture and Media, Board of Trustees of the DFB Cultural Foundation

Moderation: Franziska Eder (Bayern 2)

(Admission: 6 p.m.)

Registrations to: reservierungen@sadss.de