World Cup 2026: Page 168 - The Arsenal discussion forum and community: One more in the Tolly

World Cup 2026

JazzG

Meatwad He has done it in the past but not really known for it like some players who were always trying to get others in trouble.

RC8

SimplyTheBest Argentina as a nation are pathologically obsessed with winning in football, and will justify any sort of corruption to get a result. They care about it to an extent nobody else in the world does. No exaggeration. To some extent this produces admirable results for a nation that is otherwise quite poor and irrelevant on a global scale.

The flip side is apparent and translates into them being intensely disliked by many, and probably a lot of their internal governance would look a lot better if football didn't occupy them to the extent that it does.

It is a very lovely country with very lovely people, but one must be mindful of these issues with them. To be fair a lot of other nations have their own pathologies one must be wary of, mine are no exception, but they are not football related and so they don't make it to discussions on football discussion boards, lol

Gazza M

this double header got me

Gunner89

Big Willie Champ lolol nostalgia that...

JazzG

Big Willie Champ

JazzG anyone got a depaywalled version of the article? Archive.ph doesn't seem to be able to cache the article without the subcribe overlay.

Qwiss

Uefa needs to refuse across the continent. This isn't acceptable.

Claudius

Qwiss I hope Uefa breaks away. I don't expect Uefa to use its power favorably in relation to CAF and less affluent federations. But I also don't expect them to be as corrupt as Infantino. He's loathsome

Qwiss

Claudius the problem is CAF are so desperate for money that Infantino just buys off most of them and other FAs that are struggling for money. Its a shit situation but the way FIFA have exploited that is threatening international football as a sporting venture. CAF nations will get their money now and be absolutely fucked over in the future by Infantinos plans. Uefa will of course be self serving but at least they might serve their own FAs rather than private investors. I think in the long run that still better for football overall around the world.

JazzG

Will be interesting to see how individual European FAs respond, the smaller ones will have their head turns. However if the bigger European nations stand together and pull out FIFA's funding will probably get pulled because apart from Brazil/Argentina the best and most popular countries are in Europe.

Bernard Woolley

JazzG I agree. Can't think of anyone who would want to invest in a football operation ex-Europe. UEFA could, if its member nations were so inclined, also potentially threaten to close off UCL / UEL participation to players affiliated with FIFA affiliated organizations. The number of international retirements will be enough to put off any investor who may still consider it.

Gurgen

At the end of the day FIFA has more power, there are about 7 billion people outside UEFA. They would just hold a world cup without European nations and it would still be a big money maker. I fully expect UEFA to fold.

Qwiss

Gurgen a world cup without European teams would be a joke.

QuincyAbeyie

Qwiss I reckon the Euros would be more attractive than a world cup without European countries.

JazzG

5 of the past 6 World cup winners are European countries, I'm not entirely sure how many would watch a world cup without Europe. In terms of sponsorships and TV money a boycott from Europe would massively put a dent in things.

$40m is a lot and a lot nations out there will snap their wrist offs, always been talk of FA out there who skim off millions and the players usually end up getting screwed over so they'll be all over this.

Gurgen

JazzG Everyone outside Europe would watch it (and many in Europe too), if only because their teams would suddenly have a much bigger chance of progressing in the tournament. At the end of the day Europe is not a very big market.

Claudius

I did a quick Google search on media rights for World Cup, and it shows that UEFA brings in 35-40% of TV revenue. I expect other areas to grow faster in future, but that is still a fair chunk of TV revenue, and lots of readymade stadiums whenever you need to host tournaments. I think they are in a good position to throw their weight around.

UEFA: $1.4Bn
CONCACAF: $1bN
Asia, Oceania: $700m
CAF / CONMEBOL: $600M

Would love to see smaller world cups, reduced global schedule (club world cup etc.). We need to start creating scarcity to improve the 'product'.

JazzG

Claudius Would love to see smaller world cups

I wasn't keen on the expansion of the World cup but personally think it worked really well.

Gazza M

the responses from various governing bodies seem to be convey disappointment at the process and the fact that they weren't cut in to the deal sooner, rather than any kind of moral or ethical objection. this will probably pass, because basically anyone with any kind of power these days is a morally bankrupt husk.

no surprises the kushner family is involved. the cancer of trumpworld is metastisizing everywhere. looking forward to the world cup powered by insights from palantir, betting lines aka insider trading via polymarket, and matchday security provided by IDF-trained death squads

Claudius

JazzG I honestly hated the size (and timezone, but that's okay). I just felt like there were too many games I could not engage with and that because there were so many games the first 3 rounds ended up becoming a big amorphous blob where I often couldn't tell if we had moved to the next phase. and there were plenty of bad teams, much more than one would have in a 32 team cup.

Qwiss

JazzG I thought it was terrible. It was too many nothing matches that drew no interest. The group stage overall was pretty dull, no big shock exits you normally get. Felt like the tournament only really started at the knockouts.

JazzG

Claudius I agree it does bring some issues but I think it was nice for smaller countries like Cape Verde and Curacao to have their moments and I think for the people who live in those countries they'll cherish those memories forever.

awooga83

Claudius yep too big and too long the groups and first knockout just meaningless. If you got knocked out the the last 32 it's essentially you for eliminated at the group stage but under this format you can kid yourself you got to the knock out stage. The pathetic quarter stuff as well changes the game.

Claudius

awooga83 i had forgotten the ad breaks and halftime show. Just farcical.
Normal people would sell expensive ads right before the national anthems and right at halftime and full time. And instead of halftime show have a proper World Cup concert / festival at Madison Sq or other spot. But don’t fuck with the sporting integrity

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