Politics
Wedged between Spain and France, this microstate leans south
Some of the most spectacular World Cup moments have been defined by the defiance of impossible odds. Beyond the sporting realm, the Principality of Andorra is something of an authority on the matter.
For the past 748 years, the landlocked microstate has managed to survive in a corner of the eastern Pyrenees mountain range despite being wedged between its two larger and more powerful neighbors. Those nations, Spain and France, will face off Tuesday in Dallas in the semifinals of the World Cup.
Unlike extinct realms like the Kingdom of Navarre or the Duchy of Lorraine, Andorra avoided getting annexed by Madrid or Paris by cannily swearing fealty to both of them — and playing them off against one another.
That’s because since 1278 the country has simultaneously recognized France’s king — and, later, its emperors and presidents — and the bishop of Spain’s Catholic diocese of Urgell as its co-princes. Doing so has prevented both French and Spanish rulers from taking over the tiny country, because that action would inevitably bring it into conflict with Andorra’s other co-sovereign.
Preserving their independence has obliged Andorrans to spend centuries walking a delicate diplomatic tightrope, carefully avoiding favoring one neighbor over the other. But Marc Basco, sportswriter for the Diari d’Andorra — the microstate’s leading newspaper — said that neutrality is less evident when it comes to soccer.
“Historically, there’s been an inclination toward France,” he said. “Our country’s political and upper classes have generally had closer ties to the country, and the elites still tend to study there.”
But that trend shifted in recent years as the principality’s demographics changed with the arrival of immigrants from the south. “Of the 89,058 inhabitants recorded in 2025, 20,216 are Spanish nationals, 8,777 are Portuguese, and just 3,665 are French,” Basco said. “And sporting preferences are very personal: they’re usually linked to your family origin, the language you speak at home, the clubs you’ve followed since childhood.”
“When it comes to football, the inclination toward Spain is clearly greater,” he said, noting that La Liga — Spain’s top professional soccer league — has a “massive following” in the principality, and that the country’s top club, FC Andorra, competes in the second division of the Spanish league.
But, he added, that preference is absent when it comes to rugby, which is also extremely popular in Andorra. When tournaments are held, the country’s residents tend to root for France, in part because so many of them studied in French schools where the sport is played.
The principality’s own national soccer team competes in the notoriously difficult UEFA qualifying section, facing heavyweights like England and Germany. Having failed to make it into this year’s tournament — or, indeed, any past World Cup — Basco said Andorra’s residents are likely to favor Spain in tonight’s semifinal match, but he insisted that doing so doesn’t imply ill will toward France.
“With Spain, and especially [the Spanish region of] Catalonia, the connection is more intense … Catalan is our official language, and the interactions are constant,” he said. “But France represents our other major historical axis and is a significant presence in our education system and institutions, and this Wednesday our parliament is due to vote on an agreement to strengthen relations with Paris.”
Today, Andorra has no real fear of being devoured by its neighbors, and the sportswriter said the French president and the bishop of Urgell’s status as the principality’s joint heads of state is “primarily perceived as a unique historical and institutional feature.”
But, he added, inhabitants’ satisfaction with that arrangement could change following next year’s presidential elections in France, in which far-right leader Marine Le Pen is the front-runner, or if the Andorran government carries out its promise to decriminalize abortion, setting the stage for a major clash with its Catholic co-prince.
For now, however, Basco said Andorrans are happy to keep up their centuries-long status quo, preserving a “relationship with both countries that is very close and, generally speaking, based on pragmatism and a sense of good neighborliness.”
LONDON — A police cover-up after a 1989 football stadium tragedy was seminal in shaping soon-to-be new British Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s political outlook.
Upon returning to the House of Commons this evening for the first time as a member of parliament, Burnham used his maiden speech to hail a proposed new Hillsborough law — named after the Sheffield football stadium where 97 Liverpool fans lost their lives in a crush — which imposes a duty of candor on public officials.
Burnham faced raw anger and heckles of “justice” and “truth” in 2009, when he was culture secretary, at a memorial service at Liverpool’s Anfield stadium to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the disaster.
Days before he moves into No. 10 Downing Street, Burnham pledged to end the U.K.’s “cover-up culture” and put “decency back at the heart of the British state.”
Burnham said the law will “change the way this country thinks and works about justice,” as it “truly is a rewiring of the state and a passing of power from the authorities to the hands of ordinary people.” MPs approved the legislation Tuesday evening, and it will now go to the House of Lords for further scrutiny.
DALLAS, Texas — The World Cup was supposed to be Dallas’s moment to shine. The city is famously image-conscious, and the powers-that-be trumpeted the fact that more Cup matches were scheduled here than any other host city. It seemed like a coup for a town whose football team (the other kind of football) bills itself as “America’s team.”
But off the pitch, Dallas leaders have spent the spring and summer fighting a series of political fights, many of them centered around sports. It’s a cautionary tale to the many European tourists who have marveled at America’s glittering sporting venues, but are unaware of the complex economic and political forces that have shaped them, for better and for worse.
Before the soccer tournament even started, the city’s pro basketball team had announced it was leaving its downtown arena. Then the hockey team decamped for a new arena in the suburbs.
Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson was booed when he attended a World Cup Fan Fest. Along the way, the city was forced to furlough non-essential workers because of a budget shortfall, so the public libraries were closed for a day last week.
“There’s a lot of — the only word I can think of is — drama,” City Councilmember Paula Blackmon said.
To be clear, the World Cup matches aren’t being played in Dallas. They’re 15 miles west, in Arlington, Texas. The Texas Rangers play baseball a few blocks away.
But Dallas proper could still stake a claim as a professional sports hub. The Dallas Mavericks (basketball) and the Dallas Stars (hockey) have spent the last 25 years at American Airlines Center, a retro-styled arena just north of the central business district, which is served by its dedicated light rail stop. That arena’s future has been at the heart of the fighting.
Last fall, the city began discussing the idea of tearing down its City Hall to make way for a new sports arena. The building is showing its age — or its neglect — and city officials estimate it’ll take hundreds of millions of dollars to repair it.
Some in Dallas questioned whether the teams need a new arena, since the American Airlines Center — which is 1.6 miles from City Hall — seems to work just fine. Others objected to tearing down the building since its architect, I.M. Pei, is kind of a big deal.
The conflict divided the city council into two factions — the majority in favor of tearing down the building, the minority trying to preserve it. Blackmon and another council member, both of whom favor preserving the old City Hall, sued the city in June trying to block a vote on tearing down the building.
To some extent, the fight has been a proxy for the broader fight over how to preserve downtown Dallas. AT&T, the telecom giant which has had its corporate headquarters in Dallas since 2008, announced this spring it’s moving to the suburbs, citing rising crime, homelessness and government dysfunction. Even the luxury retailer Neiman Marcus, the most Dallas of institutions, is closing its downtown store.
Former Dallas Mayor Laura Miller, who got into politics after a career as an investigative reporter, said the fracas over the sports arena is a symptom of the city’s dysfunctional government. Dallas has a weak mayor and its city council has been divided for decades, which gives developers — and sports teams — the upper hand in negotiating with the city.
Miller is famous locally for turning down the Dallas Cowboys when team owner Jerry Jones asked for a publicly-financed stadium inside the city in the early 2000s.
The Cowboys — like the Mavericks and Stars before them — promised to help redevelop neglected parts of the city. Miller argued that the city was better off putting its funds into basic services like public safety and infrastructure — and pointed to a string of broken promises from the sports teams and other big developers.
“It’s kind of Dallas’ Achilles heel, because Dallas will just do anything to quote unquote ‘save the teams,’ even though all the teams are all within a 30-minute drive of all of our homes,” she said.
Dallas’s local organizing committee for the World Cup declined to comment for this story, as did a spokesperson for the Mavericks. A spokesperson for the Stars didn’t respond to requests for comment. Johnson, the Dallas mayor, also declined several interview requests.
Most of the fighting has been invisible to World Cup fans, who will flock to town Tuesday for the region’s final World Cup match, which is the semi-final between France and Spain. But the outcome of the city council fight could affect Dallas for decades to come.
Democrats vying to replace former Maine Senate nominee Graham Platner on the ballot are set to battle on the debate stage Thursday night.
News Center Maine confirmed the debate, which will be held at 7 p.m. EDT in Portland and include three former gubernatorial hopefuls — Troy Jackson, Shenna Bellows and Nirav Shah — as well as former 2nd District candidate Jordan Wood. The local news organization told Blue Light News it invited candidates who received at least 20 percent of the vote in their respective primaries in June.
All four candidates confirmed their participation in statements to Blue Light News.
Platner’s decision to drop out of the race last week — following POLITICO’s report of a new sexual assault allegation — set off a scramble among Maine Democrats to find a nominee to take on GOP Sen. Susan Collins.
Thursday marks the first public face-off for these candidates, who’ve been jockeying to win over Platner’s base of support ahead of the July 25 nominating convention, when more than 600 delegates will choose Platner’s replacement. The race is a must-win for Democrats if they hope to take over control of the Senate in November.
One notable candidate didn’t get an invitation: Dan Kleban, who ran for Senate but dropped out to back Gov. Janet Mills over Platner in the primary.
A spokesperson for News Center Maine said they did not invite him because Kleban did not meet the vote threshold. Kleban did not respond to a request for comment.
Jackson, in a statement Tuesday, urged the center to include other candidates who’ve declared they’re seeking the nomination or are listed on the Maine Democratic Party’s current voter guide, “to restore voters’ trust in this process being open, transparent, and fair.”
The debate will run for 90 minutes and be televised statewide on stations WCSH 6 and WLBZ 2.
Andrew Howard and Jessica Piper contributed to this report.
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