Football is a platform, like many sports, that can allow views of politics to reach regional and global audiences. The days that should be over: when Manchester City refused the Nazi salute in 1937, only a year after Jesse Owens, was snubbed by extremist right-winger twat Adolf Hitler. The reality: in 2026, we have a world fragmented and divided by capitalism and an orange-faced leader hell bent on chaos in a way the Joker could only have dreamed of. And he’s got the Olympics in 2028, two years after a football World Cup. No politics for either?
“This is a manifesto for Palestine, and a manifesto for humanity,” Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola donned a keffiyeh at a recent fundraiser, “These past two years with these images on social media … I always imagine them saying: ‘Where are you? Come help us.‘ And even now, we haven’t done it.” This was of course about Gaza and its seemingly endless embedded presence within the lands of State of Israel (established 1948). Perversely Pep Guardiola is employed by one of U.A.E.’s big families, who have been slipping funding to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) who aren’t a football club. Their presence is messed-up-since-2023 and foreign weaponry has been the biggest factor in the maintenance of war.
Boycotting South Africa during apartheid led to change. Allowing Russia to host a football World Cup led to empowerment and the invasion of Ukraine. Giving Qatar a World Cup in football led to a new region engaged in international sport. Many controversial moments ensued. Beijing had the 2008 Olympics. The sports and the games often mirror discrimination and international friendships.
Prestigious events with copyrighted logos, like the establishment’s Olympics, are political tools, far from neutral and their to enhance diplomacy and relationships on a global stage. They’re not just set aside for watching Usian Bolt destroy records. The hoops carry symbolic and political power.
Commercial involvement, nations casting their shadow over Olympics and international tournaments, and huge legally-backed contracts have made the division of sport from politics impossible. To have marquee sponsors and investments that hold conflicts of business alongside silenced people whoring the names of sponsors is normal. The complicity is rarely spoken about, yet to engage allows opportunity to pursue avenues of peace and the notion of justice. Or not.
Pretending that sport is apolitical is a big shiny lie. The deals done in dark alleys are often in plain sight. Former Thief-FA boss Sepp Blatter and International Olympic Committee member Giovanni Vincenzo Infantino levels of accountability are there for all to see. Nothing beats accountability. Legal and society standards are met, naturally. Honestly. Sochi 2014 (XXII Olympic Winter Games) was opened by President Vladimir Putin. He was there for a FIFA tournament in 2018. Hasn’t budged since and still hates Pussy Riots.
In 2005, Muhammad Ali received a Presidential Medal of Freedom for his battling views and politics. History loves a radical. Without the Black Power salutes in 1968, would the U.S. have evolved to be more open than before? And how has it become so divided since? Sport needs radicals. Sport needs protests and it needs voices. The Kurdish flags at the City game versus Galatasaray no doubt raised a profile of a forgotten front. Not as big as Donald Trump humping the FIFA Club World Cup last year. Politics can’t keep its nose out of sport. Nor should we hide politics from sport.
It seems silly that politics can only be in sports when it suits the few at the expense of the many. Or fits a narrative. That feels far too much like a dictatorship-like run of ideas.
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