UEFA and its national associations will not participate in FIFA competitions • Hacker News Board

Re: UEFA and its national associations will not participate in FIFA competitions

#311

Post by zimpenfish » Thu, Jul 30, 2026, 9:34 PM UTC

runarberg wrote: post #270

conradfr wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While the football business is horrible it's nice that this may fail like the Super League. Now if only that could put a dent in Infantino reelection...

I am not sure a replacement for Infantino is enough. It seems like FIFA has a culture of corruption and Infantino is merely the latest manifestation of said culture. Some serious reform and restructuring seem needed.

> It seems like FIFA has a culture of corruption

I think any large multi-national organisation that deals with handing out events that generate vast sums of money inevitably succumbs to the rot.

Re: UEFA and its national associations will not participate in FIFA competitions

#312

Post by fHr » Thu, Jul 30, 2026, 9:34 PM UTC

outside1234 wrote: post #184

brunoborges wrote: post #2

Infantino clearly wants to see FIFA making billions so he and many others can pocket millions legally. But the only way for this to happen in a non-corrupt way, given that FIFA is non-profit and therefore requires a lot of questionable operations, is to turn FIFA into a business like NFL / MLS. The problem with that is that it then it is no longer a sport, rather a... business. UEFA letter is spot on.

These people looked at OpenAI and went "Hey, I can run corruption like that too!"

true lmao

Re: UEFA and its national associations will not participate in FIFA competitions

#313

Post by PaulRobinson » Thu, Jul 30, 2026, 9:35 PM UTC

    The moment external investors acquire ownership interests in FIFA competitions, football changes forever. Commercial return becomes a permanent obligation. Investor expectations become a daily pressure. From that moment onwards, every decision on the international calendar, every decision on competition formats and every decision shaping the future of football is no longer driven by what best serves the game, but by what best serves shareholders.

These words apply to any investment. It's worth considering as part of any business, including many of the businesses we're here to watch grow - the moment you have others involved as equity partners, the entire culture has to change. Do it consciously, or not at all.

Re: UEFA and its national associations will not participate in FIFA competitions

#314

Post by decimalenough » Thu, Jul 30, 2026, 9:36 PM UTC

jackbravo wrote: post #90

seviu wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FIFA is also a terrible employer Got friends working for them as developers. They ran away. In months

Are you talking about EA or FIFA?

Yes.

Re: UEFA and its national associations will not participate in FIFA competitions

#315

Post by xorcist » Thu, Jul 30, 2026, 9:39 PM UTC

hermitcrab wrote: post #306

xorcist wrote: post #230

Why only now? UEFA should boycott the world cup, period. It should have been enough even before the Balogun nonsense. They have the best league and the best teams, they have the know how and could easily host the UEFA World Cup. They could host a tournament without the pay-to-win arbitrary overruling of red cards and the clownish half time entertainment. Nobody would care about the FIFA World Cup. Fork it!

And run it on exactly the same dates as any FIFA matches.

Exactly! You would have a number of oil states competing, and that's it.

They have everything to win. It's opposite of the PGA/LIV situation, the breakout group have the stronger trademark and the better teams. It's baffling that UEFA didn't move in already when FIFA was too greedy even for EA, which is saying something.

Re: UEFA and its national associations will not participate in FIFA competitions

#316

Post by PaulRobinson » Thu, Jul 30, 2026, 9:40 PM UTC

dmarcos wrote: post #77

nkg wrote: post #51

I'm so happy to see they care enough to take a stand. The last World Cup was a sh-t show. I expect the LA olympics to be no better.

How was it a shit show? I’m genuinely curious. I attended 5 games (Atlanta, LA and Dallas) and was a fantastic experience minus the process to get tickets.

- The number of teams expanding weakened the group stage to a point of being ignorable

- The extraordinary pricing of the tickets

- "Hydration breaks" to cater for TV advertising

- The US red card being rescinded after a phone call from an interested party

- Argentina's free pass throughout

FIFA has been corrupt since the days of João Havelange, although his stance was broadly to bring football to more countries and just needed a way to finance that (enter stage left, Coca-Cola, and stage right, Adidas and ISL), but it started getting really wild after him.

It's gone unchecked. There was talk of the English FA pulling out of UEFA and FIFA some years ago, as there was a perception the soul of the game had been tarnished by both orgs.

This is a good first step, and I hope FIFA gets itself sorted. I hope UEFA also gets its house in order.

Re: UEFA and its national associations will not participate in FIFA competitions

#317

Post by notahacker » Thu, Jul 30, 2026, 9:41 PM UTC

overfeed wrote: post #82

glitchc wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FIFA made $~15 billion USD this World Cup, roughly double what they made in Qatar in 2022. There are many low-hanging fruit that can be optimized to increase that revenue by 10x.

I didn't realize the commercial-block-sized "hydration breaks" were that profitable. For a second, I thought the Americanization[1] of fùtbol would be done gradually and no one would complain as we'd be slowly boiled. I'm glad the corrupt bastards got greedy/impatient and took a big swing. 1. Sports primarily as a business, catering to owners first, sponsors second, broadcasters third, and then lastly, fans. IMO non-…

There were 40% more games than the last World Cup, which is a lot of extra broadcast rights and ticket revenues...

Re: UEFA and its national associations will not participate in FIFA competitions

#318

Post by decimalenough » Thu, Jul 30, 2026, 9:41 PM UTC

nkg wrote: post #253

Jtarii wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Balogun and Ronaldo red card overturns had nothing to do with "refereeing". It was clear corruption and favouritism. Also the treatment of the Iranian team was comically awful.

Oh boy, how could I forget about the Iranian team, and the other players/referees/staff that were rejected or stuck at the airport for hours ? It was worse than a sh-t show actually.

Blame the US for that one, not FIFA.

Re: UEFA and its national associations will not participate in FIFA competitions

#319

Post by dekervin » Thu, Jul 30, 2026, 9:42 PM UTC

orangedog wrote: post #56

hamper653 wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most football non-fans absolutely know that a football match is supposed to be two halves.

It's still two halves there is just another short stoppage time in which players stay on the field, the same as every foul, goal, and variety of other timing based decisions in football.

Why don't you just say: I know nothing about football ( and I dont care much), please enlighten me?

- Football is not a game of easy scoring, often you have to build momentum, by relentlessly putting pressure on the other team. It's more important than in other sports, because in football a weaker team can easily earn a draw against a stronger team if the later fails to do just that.

Your attacks ( and defense efforts) must compound. It's almost like building a narrative inside the head of the players and inside the head of the spectators before a goal gives everyone a release one way or the other. Moreso than in other sports where you have a lot of scoring happening. Football is closer to watching an epic drama.

Now it's true that dynamics can change on a dime. But you often have to earn that change ( like by having a skilled player who attracts fouls ). Having regular breaks makes it almost like watching another sport.

- In most of Europe and South America even people who don't watch regular league games have an intuitive expectation of how a game should be played. And they care.

Especially when it comes to national teams because it's often a big part of the national lore. ( It's like the offside rule. Even people who despise the game end up being experts )

Re: UEFA and its national associations will not participate in FIFA competitions

#320

Post by juliusceasar » Thu, Jul 30, 2026, 9:42 PM UTC

miohtama wrote: post #300

brunoborges wrote: post #2

Infantino clearly wants to see FIFA making billions so he and many others can pocket millions legally. But the only way for this to happen in a non-corrupt way, given that FIFA is non-profit and therefore requires a lot of questionable operations, is to turn FIFA into a business like NFL / MLS. The problem with that is that it then it is no longer a sport, rather a... business. UEFA letter is spot on.

Infantino should call Altman

Or Madoff, SBF, Weinstein, etc