The beautiful game has a long, ugly history with autocrats. But there's something about soccer that the authoritarian mind cannot comprehend.
Trump secures FIFA's first Peace Prize with Row 1 seating, replicating Mussolini's 1934 spectacle-weaponization for authoritarian prestige. The pattern illustrates a governance lesson: command cannot manufacture belonging; genuine communities require cooperation and distributed trust.
The Autocrat’s Game
For nearly as long as the World Cup has existed, autocrats have tried to exploit it. Trump is no exception.
June 11, 202610:00 AM
Photo illustration by Slate. Photos by Jabin Botsford/Pool/AFP via Getty Images and Jasper Juinen/Getty Images.
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A recent history of the World Cup suggests the tournament can triumph over Trump.
From Mussolini's bribery campaign and Argentina's junta-driven quest for glory to Kim Il Sung's four-word command and Saddam…
Can soccer still unite people across borders, class, and cultures in an increasingly authoritarian world?
No matter how intently we listen to FIFA President Gianni Infantino’s repetitive hymns extolling the “purity of the game” and its…
Jules Rimet, the creator of the World Cup, believed in the unifying power of the sport, but almost since the first ball was…
FIFA president Gianni Infantino's closeness with deeply polarizing U.S. president could have ramifications for 2026 World Cup.
