COLOGNE, Germany (AP) — Former Germany coach Joachim Löw has raised concerns about safety at the World Cup being hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada.
“We had debates before the 2018 World Cup in Russia, and calls for a boycott before the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. But playing in a country that is actively at war is even more dangerous,” Löw told the Cologne Express newspaper in comments published Tuesday. “The political situation completely overshadows the tournament.”
The U.S.-and-Israeli war with Iran is ongoing, and a wave of violence followed the Mexican army’s killing of cartel chief Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, “El Mencho,” last month.
Löw, who led Germany to the World Cup title in Brazil in 2014, spoke on Monday evening at an event, focused on previous World Cups, with Rainer Bonhof, who helped West Germany win the 1974 tournament, and other World Cup winners.
Attention turned to the upcoming tournament near the end of their discussion.
“I don’t even know if you should play at all,” Bonhof said to loud applause, Express reported.
“Given the current circumstances, for me only Canada is a neutral country,” Bonhof said of the co-hosts. “I don’t want to boycott any World Cup — we’re too fond of football. But we really need to think about security measures, which we haven’t considered yet.”
Bonhof, who is currently the president of Bundesliga club Borussia Mönchengladbach, said he “wouldn’t have any urge to go” to Mexico because of the security situation there.
The German soccer federation in January ruled out a boycott of the World Cup despite calls from within at the time to send a message to U.S. President Donald Trump. That was before the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28.
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