The Netherlands still plans to attend the football World Cup in the US, Mexico and Canada, the chairman of the Dutch football association KNVB said on Tuesday.

Nevertheless, US president Donald Trump is “making a lot of threats”, Frank Pauw said at the presentation of the news photos of the year awards. Trump is, Pauw said, “setting out a new limit”.

The KNVB said on Monday saying that the organisation “is aware of geopolitical developments and is acting together with the Dutch government”.

“We always follow the guidelines set by the Dutch government, Fifa and Uefa,” KNVB secretary general Gijs de Jong said in the online interview. “When they indicate that travelling to or playing in a certain area is not allowed, then we don’t go. We focus on football, dialogue and making connections.”

Dutch television personality Teun van der Keuken has launched a petition calling for a boycott, which has been signed by more than 100,000 people so far.

“We don’t want our footballers to give implicit support to the violent terror strategy enacted by president Donald Trump against innocent migrants by taking part in the tournament,” the petition states.

“We also reject the aggressive military interference of the United States and consider it unsustainable that our players should take part in a tournament hosted by a president who threatens to invade and occupy Greenland, which would destroy Nato and endanger world peace.”

The Netherlands is playing all three group matches in the US. The first, against Japan, will take place in Dallas. That will be followed by a match against the winner of the European play-offs in Houston, and then against Tunisia in Kansas City.

In 1978 there were calls for a boycott of the Argentina World Cup because of the ruling junta, and similar moves were made ahead of World Cups in Russia and Qatar. Oranje did not qualify for the tournament in Russia but did take part in both Argentina and Qatar.