Last week, FIFA, the body that oversees world football, announced the host countries for the World Cup in 2030. It will take place in six countries on three continents. As distressing as it is aberrant. But also probably the start of anything in the organization of major sporting events.
Too much money in football is killing football. ©Pixabay
If he wanted to break one of the most watched sporting competitions in the world, he couldn’t do it better. The Swiss-Italian jurist Gianni Infantino, president of FIFA, likes stunts that we don’t like. For the first time since its creation in Uruguay in 1930, the Football World Cup will be played on three continents (South America, Africa, Europe) and in six countries (Uruguay, Paraguay, Argentina, Morocco, Spain and Portugal). At a time when we only swear by sustainable development and the environment, hello carbon footprint.
Every four years, the moment we look forward to
But above all this decision which, hardly believable, would have been unanimous among the members of FIFA, sounds the death knell foran extraordinary competition where every four years in the summer, football enthusiasts unite with the host country, and enjoy discovering all of its attractions. A journey through time, on a given territory, that we look forward to and savor with fervor and frenzy. When the rarity of the event is coupled with the pleasure of waiting, it’s an exquisite moment that we definitely don’t want to waste.
Except that there Gianni Infantino, driven by the sole lure of gain, year after year breaks everything that makes a Football World Cup so exciting. He campaigns for a World Cup every two years, thus wanting to deprive us of the cycle with which we grew up. The last World Cup was played in winter and in Qatar, a state which has been widely criticized and which is not the heir to a long football tradition. From 2026, our benchmarks will be further disrupted as the competition will increase from 32 to 48 participating countries. This 23rd edition will also take place in three countries, the United States, Canada and Mexico. In short, we get lost and we won’t even remember where the most famous matches took place. Seville 1982, Guadalajara 1986, Paris – Saint-Denis 1998…, incredible slices of life where time seems to have stopped.
« Un grand show, un grand business, un grand barnum ».
As with the Olympic Games, we can of course admit that it is increasingly difficult for a single host country to assume the financial cost of organizing a World Cup alone. With the exception perhaps of the Gulf countries. As luck would have it, the 2034 World Cup seems promised to… Saudi Arabia, a climatically hot country which builds its notoriety through sport.
I read it somewhere, we are in the process of desecrate the World Cup. It’s truly sad. As Michel Platini, who would undoubtedly have made a good FIFA president, has repeatedly said, “football today is more of a big show, a big business, a big barnum”. To the detriment of the fans and enthusiasts who keep it alive. Gianni Infantino, you’re completely wrong.
The economic model above all, fans will wait
The FIFA president deserves his red card, synonymous with exclusion from the body he heads, but clearly he is not the only one to succumb to the lure of money. Supported by a profitable business model, other organizations are dismantling the existing system. For example World Rugby, International Rugby Federation, which plans to increase from 20 to 24 teams from the next World Cup which will take place in Australia in 2027. A little early when we see the differences in level between the selections. Watching France crush Namibia 96 to 0 is not the most exciting thing. A match is only interesting if you don’t know in advance who will win it, right! Regarding this Rugby World Cup, we can also deplore the draw made three years ago, which will see the current four best nations in the world compete in the same part of the table at the quarter-final stage. of final. Too bad.
In the realm of sport, not everything is rotten, but there are still some practices and decisions that leave one wondering. The football planet is shaken, the rugby planet disrupted… Popular sports are mistreated. The powerful control, the sponsors lurk. In fact, it all became about money. And unfortunately it is always the same people who toast and who suffer.
