The October international break, more than most, reminded us that football, however much it tries, is not an isolated self-contained branch of the entertainment industry. It exists in the real world, interconnected and intertwined with an international political ecosystem. The fact that it draws eyeballs, stokes passions and offers a global megaphone only makes it even more prone to the outside world.
FIFA's own statutes explicitly say that football must be free from political interference and that political symbols or activism are barred from international matches. But they're like Sisyphus pushing that big rock up the mountain. It's futile.