It was a mistake if your goal is to stage a tournament during the traditional interval (rather than breaking up the seasons of established leagues), or do so with hosts who won’t enslave and kill their workers, or not endanger the players by making them play in extreme temperatures, or endanger fans by sending them into an intolerant culture. It was a tremendous success if your goal was to score as much bribe money as possible.
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Cue Sepp Blatter as Bruce Banner: “I consider this an absolute win!”
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Has anyone watched the FIFA documentary yet?
No, but i will tonight
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This is fine.
It was really well made, it was infuriating, sickening, laughable (we kick Jack Warner out, and in the spirit of transparency and good governance, we’ll put in his place a “banker” from the Cayman Islands of all places…that was my favorite laughable part I didn’t previously know about) and some other things at the same time. It was hard to watch Sepp justify himself constantly, same with the Sheik. Zero acknowledgement that they could have ever remotely done anything close to being wrong. There’s other things: Adidas/ISL, Haveland, etc…
I did not know anything about the '98 election that basically set FIFA down the path to where they ended up.
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This is going to be great.
Booze will still be available in the corporate suites at the matches; starting price for a ticket ￡19,000. So it’s not about principle, it’s about privilege.
Meanwhile, Budweiser sponsored the World C(orr)up to the tune of £63 million, part of that deal being that they would be the exclusive beer seller at the matches. Is FIFA now in breach of that deal?
Qataris have FIFA (and everyone else) over a barrel. I’m sure the Qatari position is “what are you going to do about it”? Maybe FIFA/Budweiser can bring in Trump for some tips on not paying bills.
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You get in bed with dogs, you get fleas.
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Or rabies.
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It’s always been this way. About everything. There are rules for the elite and then there are rules for the hoi polloi.
Of course. It’s just laughable that they were awarded the tournament over a decade ago and were promising beer Budweiser sales, and then reneged 3 days before the opening match.
Discovery in the inevitable Budweiser lawsuit will be interesting. What did FIFA know and when did they know it?
You know there will just be a settlement. FIFA is used to paying people off.
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As are the various sultanates.
Of all the affronts to humanity from this World Cup, this may be the worst of it.
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England’s constant Trump-level delusion about the quality of its football team is a reliable source of amusement for the rest of us. It’s nice to know that there are still some things we can count on in this world.
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We will be knocked out by the first good team we face in the knockout stages…as usual. Assuming we make it that far.
England will advance to the knockout stage because the US will find new and glorious ways to stub their toes. And Iran. England and Wales advance from Group A.