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

#341

Post by Kuyawa » Thu, Jul 30, 2026, 10:12 PM UTC

First off, fire Infantino on the spot, just the same way they fired Blatter for corruption.

This last world cup was the worse I've ever seen since 1978, almost 50 years, and I've seen the good, the bad and the ugly. We all know billions are moved under the table, but money can never break rules and traditions, specially if they don't benefit fans and players above all

Did anybody ask the players about the hydration break? About increasing teams to 48, now to 64? More games is more possibility of injuries and benched players are no good for the show. So always be careful about wanting more golden eggs, the goose may be exhausted already

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

#342

Post by rimeice » Thu, Jul 30, 2026, 10:15 PM UTC

UEFA should take over the World Cup.

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

#343

Post by padjo » Thu, Jul 30, 2026, 10:16 PM UTC

igsomething wrote: post #155

The same UEFA that added redundant matches and teams to the Champions League for money, and that came up with the Nations League because they wanted to extract more money from the national teams?

Funnily enough it was Infantino who lead the introduction of the Nations League.

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

#344

Post by padjo » Thu, Jul 30, 2026, 10:17 PM UTC

mgianluc76 wrote: post #59

Good calls. Honestly, the last World Cup already had way too many unwatchable matches before the quarterfinals. And the hydration pauses to sell more ads. And that halftime show during the final.

Yeah it was a disaster really.

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

#345

Post by jonplackett » Thu, Jul 30, 2026, 10:18 PM UTC

This is. Very well written letter.

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

#346

Post by rimeice » Thu, Jul 30, 2026, 10:19 PM UTC

decimalenough wrote: post #318

nkg wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Blame FIFA for giving the contest to the US to host

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

#347

Post by amelius » Thu, Jul 30, 2026, 10:19 PM UTC

I wonder how often this guy's name is mispronounced as "Infantilo".

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

#348

Post by ajmurmann » Thu, Jul 30, 2026, 10:20 PM UTC

PaulRobinson wrote: post #316

dmarcos wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Ticket prices for all events anywhere will not come back down unless we make international travel harder. There were Taylor Swift fans who flew to every concert of one of her tours. When I attended the Hungaroring Grand Prix every single person seemed to be visiting from outside Hungary. Hosting in the wealthiest country of size of course made this worse but I predict ticket prices for popular events will only keep going up and up.

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

#349

Post by ajmurmann » Thu, Jul 30, 2026, 10:21 PM UTC

t0mpr1c3 wrote: post #108

orangedog wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sports people (I was listening to Bill Simmons) rated it pretty highly. There was nothing egregious and it was widely attended.

The way that the Iran team was only allowed into the USA on match days was a disgrace. Refusing entry to a Somali referee on the spurious grounds of links to terrorism was a disgrace. The overturning of Falorin Balogun's ban was a disgrace. The ticket prices were a disgrace. The transport to the stadiums was a shambles. I could go on.

Ticket prices cannot go down unless you just want more money for scalpers. It's a simple function of supply and demand

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

#350

Post by smotched » Thu, Jul 30, 2026, 10:23 PM UTC

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!

UEFA is not an angel, they generate far more money than FIFA from TV rights, sponsorships, and tickets. They also just don't want to ever lose that.