FIFA has gone to great lengths talking about the separation of football and politics, but World Cup 2018 has shown how closely the both are linked.

Obscure Balkan studies professors are suddenly enjoying a World Cup-fueled surge in popularity thanks to Granit Xhaka and Xherdan Shaqiri and their now infamous goal celebrations in Switzerland’s match against Serbia. Fans around the world were referencing the Battle of Kosovo, football twitter was on fire with with the hottest of hot takes about an incoming ban for the two Kosovar-Swiss midfielders, and the Serbian coach has called for the referee to be tried at the Hague. The competition was already straining under the weight of various narratives before Shaqiri raced through to score the winner for the Nati.
And through it all, FIFA would like to take this moment to remind you that the World Cup is not political.
Everything, however, at this tournament is political. Preview after preview featured the coldly menacing face of Vladimir Putin; in light of recent geopolitics, one American commentator half-jokingly refers to it as Rogue State 2018. The most iconic image so far this summer is not of Messi or Ronaldo, but FIFA president Gianni Infantino flanked in a luxury box by Putin and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the opening match. But, again, the World Cup 2018 is not political.