Earlier quoted context omitted.
Blame FIFA for giving the contest to the US to host
Did this not happen before the current administration?
Rabid commercialisation of the beautiful game in the US would be administration agnostic.
UEFA and its national associations will not participate in FIFA competitions
591–600 of 702 posts
Re: UEFA and its national associations will not participate in FIFA competitions
#592Earlier quoted context omitted.
The difference is that they broke the fundamental rules such that 15-min half time breaks to stick a half time show in.
"Players are entitled to an interval at half-time, not exceeding 15 minutes; a short drinks break (which should not exceed one minute) is permitted at the interval of half-time in extra time. Competition rules must state the duration of the half-time interval and it may be altered only with the referee’s permission." My interpretation is it is 15 minutes unless the referee allows something else.
That's a stretched interpretation. The first sentence says the interval does not exceed 15 minutes. The most natural way to read the last sentence is that the competition rules state how long the half-time is under those parameters (i.e., the rules can state that the interval is 10 minutes, but not 1 hour); likewise, the referee can allow the competition organizers to change the duration of the interval -- the competition rules notwithstanding --, but still within the parameters of the 1st sentence.
Re: UEFA and its national associations will not participate in FIFA competitions
#593First 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 b…
Unfortunately they are needed now. "The 2026 FIFA World Cup was the hottest World Cup since the competition began in 1930. A Guardian analysis found that close to 20 percent of matches were played under heat and humidity conditions that FIFPRO, the players' union, has flagged as dangerous enough to warrant delaying or postponing play. Some 20 games were played at wet bulb globe temperatures that hit or exceeded 28 de…
They can just move whole show into colder months, ie whats the problem with September or October? Hockey championship is happening in May for example.
Re: UEFA and its national associations will not participate in FIFA competitions
#594Since when did HN care about football
Re: UEFA and its national associations will not participate in FIFA competitions
#595Infantino’s justification has been to “grow the game”, but I cannot imagine how football could possibly get any bigger, except maybe in the US.
They want to get China and Italy in
Re: UEFA and its national associations will not participate in FIFA competitions
#596Earlier quoted context omitted.
CONCACAF and UEFA almost always vote together, but they are far outnumbered by every other region and FIFA only needs a majority vote for a rule to pass. You're excluding about half of the planet by only mentioning Africa.
Nobody is going to watch a worldcup if south America joins this boycott.
Wondering about this. 10 years ago it was true but Brazil are a shadow of their former selves, and Argentina without the likes of Messi and Aguero aren't the same. I know they reached the final but Messi almost had the golden boot.
Wouldn't be surprised to see Africa surpass South America in the next decade
Re: UEFA and its national associations will not participate in FIFA competitions
#597Earlier quoted context omitted.
Agreed, the tickets to the tournament this year were just outrageously priced. Football is historically a working class sport, but $1,000 to watch a team like DR Congo in the group stage is next level criminality. And it's only going to get worse from here.
FIFA looked at this World Cup as an experiment. They wanted to see whether turning the monetization knob all the way to 11 would encounter significant resistance or whether fans would still watch/attend. The US, with its plethora of expensive stadiums and lax regulatory environment for price gouging compared to Europe, was the perfect testing environment. They upped the number of teams to 48 to get more games, used d…
Wasn't this one of the only ever world cups where group stage games weren't sold out?
Re: UEFA and its national associations will not participate in FIFA competitions
#598Why 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!
Before you eulogize UEFA too much (ok, too late, you already did), answer me this. Where did Infantino come from? Answer: UEFA And for that matter, which continent did his predecessor Sepp Blatter start his football admin career in? Hint: he's not from Asia or Africa Probably the most widely admired admin in big-time football right now is al-Khalifa, the head of PSG. A Qatari. You know - those guys who organized by c…
> Where did Infantino come from? Answer: UEFA
That’s such a weak argument. So every European person or organisation guilty by association? Are the Swiss doubly guilty?
> Europe had managed to keep the lions share of footballs global revenues to itself, while keeping Africa as basically a "football nursery" where teenagers get almost trafiked across Europe before 90% are discarded.
UEFA is not running any African competition or including any African team. What’s your point?
African federations might see the short term gains of Infantino’s bribes, but long term maximising profit is corrosive. They have a much better shot at growing the African cup of nations, which is not doing too bad and increasing in popularity (even in Europe to some degree).
It is not hypocritical of UEFA to point that out.
> Just saying, Europe & UEFA arent necessarily the angels in any of this
That’s a strawman. Nobody said that.
Re: UEFA and its national associations will not participate in FIFA competitions
#599Earlier quoted context omitted.
There is no right and wrong here. Watching a bunch of guys kick a ball around is a completely optional activity. The stadium can accommodate x people, and x+n people want to watch the game. Therefore, someone has to be left out. That can be decided multiple ways, but there is no philosophical reason that money being the deciding factor is wrong. We use that mechanism for almost everything else in the world. It's the…
You see it in England all the time where organized fan groups do push back and protest ending up with the owners walking back the suggested ticket increases.
England is bizarre. Away tickets in the premiership are capped at £30 but I was routinely paying £48 in the championship and £36 in league 1 (second and third leagues)
Re: UEFA and its national associations will not participate in FIFA competitions
#600Earlier quoted context omitted.
Unfortunately they are needed now. "The 2026 FIFA World Cup was the hottest World Cup since the competition began in 1930. A Guardian analysis found that close to 20 percent of matches were played under heat and humidity conditions that FIFPRO, the players' union, has flagged as dangerous enough to warrant delaying or postponing play. Some 20 games were played at wet bulb globe temperatures that hit or exceeded 28 de…
They can just move whole show into colder months, ie whats the problem with September or October? Hockey championship is happening in May for example.
That's when the players are playing club football.