European Far-Right Leaders Stay Quiet on World Cup Teams as Diverse Squads Test Nationalist Politics
Updated
Updated · POLITICO · Jul 19
European Far-Right Leaders Stay Quiet on World Cup Teams as Diverse Squads Test Nationalist Politics
1 articles · Updated · POLITICO · Jul 19
Summary
Far-right leaders from France’s National Rally, Germany’s AfD and Britain’s Reform UK have largely avoided loudly backing their national teams as the World Cup closes, an unusual silence around a major patriotic event.
Diverse squads with many players from immigrant backgrounds have complicated that support, since the teams clash with hard-right views of national identity, political scientists Andrei Markovits and Alan Bairner said.
Some leaders redirected their rhetoric instead: Geert Wilders attacked Morocco and later called for deportations after clashes in The Hague, while Nigel Farage invoked the 1982 Falklands war before England’s semifinal against Argentina.
Others muted earlier criticism and stuck to conventional praise—Jordan Bardella congratulated France after its loss to Spain, and AfD leaders Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla brushed off complaints that Germany lacked an 'authentic' national team.
The episode shows how multicultural national teams can turn football—once an easy vehicle for nationalist politics—into a more awkward stage for Europe’s far right.