World Cup 2026

[HVC]

At any rate, in this case I think FIFA taking it back (with or without Trump interference) is just another big stain on their plenty tarnished reputation.

I mean FIFA is complicit in the fucking Arab slave trade, officiating decisions and red cards hardly matters in the face of that.

Kind of hollow to throw qatar up as a shield when they're your allie and good friend

[Syt]

At any rate, in this case I think FIFA taking it back (with or without Trump interference) is just another big stain on their plenty tarnished reputation.

I mean FIFA is complicit in the fucking Arab slave trade, officiating decisions and red cards hardly matters in the face of that.

Kind of hollow to throw qatar up as a shield when they're your allie and good friend

"What's a Boeing for 400M among friends?"

[mongers]

Absolutely embarrassing displaying of incompetence

Looking at the bright side, US is a quality team:  one shot on target, one goal.  Sure, Belgium has three goals, but they needed six shots on target to get there.

 

[garbon]

At any rate, in this case I think FIFA taking it back (with or without Trump interference) is just another big stain on their plenty tarnished reputation.

I mean FIFA is complicit in the fucking Arab slave trade, officiating decisions and red cards hardly matters in the face of that.

Kind of hollow to throw qatar up as a shield when they're your allie and good friend

Qatar is Timmy's ally and friend?

[mongers]

I'm rather disappointed by some of these US fans reactions to the red card saga:

BBC - Washington DC reactions.

The end justifies the means?

[Richard Hakluyt]

Thank God they don't play cricket.

[Zoupa]

IMO the world at large is quite tired of America's antics and it would have been nice to have our little make-believe "the world is fun" tournament that we only get every 4 years. But no. Trump had to enshitify that too.

The root of the problem is still FIFA. I wonder if alternatives were ever attempted.

[celedhring]

Soccer is a just sport

It's warfare by other means

This is true. It can in many countries be the most uniting thing. I am curious, does it unite Belgians?

For Norway's part, the World Cup has been a love-fest.

A Spanish pundit once put it quite beautifully, imho. "The most important of the unimportant things"

[HisMajestyBOB]

FIFA is probably going to award him an extra special world cup trophy.

[HisMajestyBOB]

IMO the world at large is quite tired of America's antics and it would have been nice to have our little make-believe "the world is fun" tournament that we only get every 4 years. But no. Trump had to enshitify that too.

The root of the problem is still FIFA. I wonder if alternatives were ever attempted.

Hey, if FIFA wasn't enabling him we could have all just ignored him.

[Norgy]

Corruption in sports is not new. Heads of state intervening is novel, though.

The money involved in football lends the sport to a certain level of shady business, and ideally we'd want the institutions like FIFA, and in Europe's case, UEFA, to be a bulwark against this.

However, this has not been the case. UEFA got the Swede Lennart Johansson as president back in 1990 to tidy up what had become a poor reputation. The 17 years under Johansson were probably clean-ish, but it saw the birth of money machine UEFA Champions League and a few attempts at a super league.

Johansson sadly lost to Blatter when corrupter-in-chief Joao Havelange retired in 1997.

I very much doubt all was well in FIFA before Havelange, quite the opposite, but the big money deals started coming then.
Infantino was seen as a good choice, as he was a professional and a lawyer with some distance from Blatter and Havelange, but he really has managed to top them both.

It does seem that the system lacks any internal checks and balances and any real oversight, and that when it comes down to it, corrupt national federations will happily play along with the FIFA leadership. So if the UN is impotent, FIFA has the opposite problem, it is hard for cash all the time.

Havelange ran FIFA as a business, which ideally should not be the primary focus. Blatter and Infantino have both continued down that path with even more stinky dealings than Havelange had.

However, show me some clean Euro/Canadian/American/East Asian that would be acceptable to national federations...

[Crazy_Ivan80]

Soccer is a just sport

It's warfare by other means

This is true. It can in many countries be the most uniting thing. I am curious, does it unite Belgians?

For Norway's part, the World Cup has been a love-fest.

Yes and no. Only for the duration but also the national FA is so uniting they can't even be bothered to use Dutch half the time. 'Tous ensemble! Et pour les flamands la même chose'

That said: everyone is quite satisfied with the result

[celedhring]

Corruption in sports is not new. Heads of state intervening is novel, though.

It is, in fact, quite old. Mussolini picking referees in 1934 comes to mind.

And I recall some Arab sheik jumping onto the pitch to protest the referee in 1982? 

EDIT: Kuwaiti. It trumps Trump certainly, the guy got a goal rescinded, not a trifling red card https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/6lf15w/til_of_a_1982_world_cup_incident_where_kuwaits/

[Syt]

I mean, during the 1978 World Cup in Argentina the German team was visited by Hans-Ulrich Rudel, WW2 pilot and nazi who had fled to Argentina. Hermann Neuberger, head of the German FA (DFB), said at the time that not allowing him to visit would be an insult to all German soldiers. Meanwhile, while visiting Argentina in 1977, the DFB apparently knew that German student Elisabeth Käsemann was imprisoned there but didn't bring it up (she was killed same year by the Junta). Berti Vogts said after the World Cup, "Argentina is an orderly country. I didn't see any political prisoners."

[Duque de Bragança]

At any rate, in this case I think FIFA taking it back (with or without Trump interference) is just another big stain on their plenty tarnished reputation.

I mean FIFA is complicit in the fucking Arab slave trade, officiating decisions and red cards hardly matters in the face of that.

I'm sure they've learned their lesson and they will make sure Saudi-Arabia is squeaky clean for the 2034 World Cup.

2034, not 2032.
Don't give Gianni ideas!