The World Cup of grift

Tonight sees the start of the World Cup in Mexico, Canada and the US. A World Cup I said would never take place, what with one of the hosts bombing one of the participating nations against international law and the US Constitution.

The bloated competition now has 48 teams, and the expanded group stage will just have 16 teams eliminated, so we will be left with 32 teams entering the knockout phase.

A referee, the leading African referee, Omar Artan, has been banned from entering the US not because of anything he has done, but because he has a name similar to someone who has. And FIFA, who you thought would support the referee, just accepted it.

Iran, who the US and Isreal are attacking are only allowed to enter the US on the day of their games in Los Angeles and Seattle, and must leave US soil the same day. Mot of their officials and all of their fans have had their visas withdrawn.

Five other nations have serious restrictions on their players, officials and fans.

FIFA says nothing.

And yet from the back of my mind I believe there is something in the contract the host countries and FIFA sign which guarantees entry to fans, officials and players.

Elsewhere, most US businesses are grifting to a huge extent, with hotels airlines, restaurants massively increasing prices. The New Jersey Transit Authority increased subway tickets to the Met Life Stadium from $12.50 to over $100, citing recouping costs associated with the World Cup. It is my understanding, the Authority has spent very little, if nothing on infrastructure, so there are no costs to recoup. Just grifting.

FIFA bought three quarter of match tickets, then dumped them on the market a few weeks back, for many games involving lesser supported teams, or those whose fans cannot enter the country, now selling for below face value. Other games have seen massive proce increases from previous tournaments, going against the promises made in the bid document.

FIFA defends this, as they receive a cut of the proces, and 15% from both the seller and buyer via their resale portal.

I will avoid most of the games, as only the early kick offs are before my bed time, so will miss two thirds, at least of all group games.

It also seems no lessons have been learned from last year's World Club Cup tournament, when matches were delayed for over two hours because of thunderstorms and the risk of lightening strikes. What will happen during the final round of group games where the two games are due to kick off at the same time, and one is delayed: will both be delayed to ensure teams don't know what result they need?

It is an even worse shitshow than anticipated, with Trump as President, and deciding who dies and who does not get to attend games, even with visa and match tickets and accommodation booked. We shall see how empty stands are and how poor the atmosphere is once it kicks off. Whatever goes wrong, it will be FIFA's fault. Just remember that.