Soccer Still Has Some Explaining to Do

When this whole White House soccer lovefest began a month ago, I had just finished re-reading How Soccer Explains the World . Published in 2004, Franklin Foer’s bestseller used the beautiful game to explain the nature of globalization as it appeared at the time. Foer traveled the world, watching games, interviewing supporters, and weaving it all into a story about where the world was going. In Foer’s telling, soccer represented a range of responses to the seemingly inevitable rise of free-market Western liberalism. Among genocidal fans of Serbia’s Red Star Belgrade, soccer stood for the atavistic Balkan tribalism that thwarted globalization’s peaceful promise. Among Iranian women sneaking into soccer stadiums, the game reflected their craving for the “advanced, capitalist, un-Islamic West.”

In November, FIFA, international soccer’s governing body, announced that it would be awarding its inaugural Peace Prize at the 2026 World Cup draw. Pretty much the entire internet quickly concluded that Donald Trump would be the recipient. A few weeks later, international soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo joined Trump for a state dinner with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. And last week, during a convoluted and unhinged draw ceremony that concluded with a half-hearted rendition of “YMCA,” FIFA did indeed hand Trump the award, praising him for being “a leader that cares about the people.” A few days later, U.S. prosecutors dropped charges in a criminal case linked to FIFA's 2015 corruption scandal.

In November, FIFA, international soccer’s governing body, announced that it would be awarding its inaugural Peace Prize at the 2026 World Cup draw. Pretty much the entire internet quickly concluded that Donald Trump would be the recipient. A few weeks later, international soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo joined Trump for a state dinner with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. And last week, during a convoluted and unhinged draw ceremony that concluded with a half-hearted rendition of “YMCA,” FIFA did indeed hand Trump the award, praising him for being “a leader that cares about the people.” A few days later, U.S. prosecutors dropped charges in a criminal case linked to FIFA’s 2015 corruption scandal.

When this whole White House soccer lovefest began a month ago, I had just