Many people, especially in the United States, want politics to remain separate from sports. Many ask if it is even possible, but the short answer is it depends. In certain areas of sports, like football, that take place in one country, politics can be avoided since the teams are just representing cities in the same state/country. However, when sports are taken to the world scale, the soccer world cup for example, politics cannot be avoided. Multiple countries compete to prove who is better and many times these countries are rivals and the winner gets to establish more dominance over the loser. A major example of this was the so-called “Miracle on Ice,” where the United States beat Russia in the Olympics in hockey in 1980. Even though it was in the Cold War, the point still stands.

But those are just politics determining who is better, as well for national pride. Any other politics should not be included. Egypt and Iran are objecting to play in the World Cup in Seattle this year because of politics going on in our country, such as ICE and pride marches. While everyone has their beliefs in the matter, athletes and teams from different countries should not object to playing in the biggest sporting event in the world just because the country hosting their matches has events happening that are completely unrelated to their sport, as well as to their purpose being in Seattle.

Unfortunately, Egypt has a track record of implementing politics into the very thread of all of its sports. Most of its teams were made and developed to promote certain political groups and create even more loyalty to said groups. With this, it makes sense that they are objecting due to political events in the United States. A point to dive deeper into is ICE. Their purpose is to control immigration into the United States and enforce the laws around that. The players from Egypt and Iran should not be worried about ICE because, unless their fans decide to immigrate and live in the United States after the match, all of their fans are deemed as tourists. ICE can’t do anything about that, so there should be no problems with ICE. Moving on to the pride marches, Egypt is well-known to be unsupportive to the LGBTQ+ community, as they are more or less hostile toward. But aggain, this match in Seattle, in the world cup, is a sporting event. It does not mean they have to suddenly adapt to U.S. culture and be friendly to everyone. They are there to play against Iran, not U.S. culture. 

Focusing on the athletes, it is expected that they have their own political viewpoints and if they go against others, it is not a big deal in the view of the world. However, they should not worry about their standpoints in a different country unless what they believe in is contradictory to what is happening in said country. But in terms of the world cup and soccer, they are playing a team sport, and even more, they are representing their home country. The only thing the athletes should be focusing on is beating their opponent and showing the world how good they are in their sport, not how good or right their politics are in the world. That is their government’s job, not their soccer team’s job. 

In the end, the soccer world cup is a global competition designed to represent each country in soccer and determine which country has the best team. It is a big point in national pride for every country involved, as well as a major culture point in many countries involved. When politics are involved and influence the teams into whether they should or should not play a match, the purpose of the world cup is weakened and people start to forget about everything it stands for. Nothing good comes from politics entering sports, and the fans of countries should cheer on their team, not jeer at other countries and what they believe.