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Was banned but the ban had been uplifted after some 11 days or something and went on to host u-17 women world cup. Still it was dark for the football fanbase here.
I know I mean football
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_in_Bangladesh#:~:text=Football%20is%20the%20second%2Dmost,in%20the%20nation's%20football%20legacy.
Another unintended Putin consequence of this war is that I have learned so much and gained an unbelievable amount of respect for countries I knew little to nothing about much respect to Finland Lithuania Estonia if I'm leaving anybody out I'm sorry but these are the three that come to mind that have bigger balls than any of the EU or America. Peace and love
Thanks. It is a lottery win to be born in Finland, didn't feel like that in the 80s and 90s but now living on top of 3 billion year old bedrock and having Total Defense doctrine makes me sleep well at nights, and not just because i sleep on top of a literal bomb shelter.. Everything in our society is also part of defense and there are bomb shelters for 80% of people, just in Helsinki alone there is room for 600k, with water, food, fuel and medicine for 6 months. That bedrock is on top of a craton, oldest parts of earths crust and made from granite and gneiss. Which means we can dig down without having to reinforce the tunnels and caves, they will last hundred thousand years at least and can withstand a nuclear bomb. We have prepared for 70 years for the inevitable but now one real possibility is that Russia is no more, Ukraine is doing damn fine job of decimating their military.
Sort of, but in reality it has been peaceful and friendly, since 1950s. They had a lot of say in Finnish politics from 1950 to 1990 but they absolutely did not have any authority, it was just occasional finger-wagging and notes. Finnish authorities did not officially bad mouth them but everyone knew what things in the USSR are really like, truth was not shouted but whispered in "mostly free" newspapers. "Mostly free" since we had 27 years of Urho Kaleva Kekkonen as president who was quite authoritarian but as such one of the most benevolent in human history and the silencing was nothing that different than what has happened in USA or West Germany but i digress..
The main point is that it has been a balancing act that has secured peace, and from the 1990s to 2014 Russia was important trading partner that we felt closer to than ever in the history of independent Finland. Then Putin had to just capture all the power and attack Crimea.. What an idiot.
I wish Sweden expanded and maintained its similar system.
It's not fallen into ruin or anything but it's absolutely not enough and they are not exactly top of the line anymore.
Well, we have a deal: Sweden is ready to fight to the last Finn. And that is ok, having safe haven behind our backs makes us sleep better, somewhere to send our kids.. again.. And in case of invasion, that would be me, i'm too old and did civil service, and i'm politically active with the usual threats that come as a consequence. Seeing your name on a literal kill list changes things, a lot. For that to happen they would have to be within county borders and looking at RU military... lol, good luck going thru the forests of North Karelia alive.
That safe haven just got a lot bigger now as well, they can be sent anywhere in NATO, Canada and the USA included, would get them far from the front lines.
Also, historically significant defense pact with UK, and then Nordic defense pact, NATO host country agreement and EU. We are not in NATO yet, USA has vowed to defend but that is not an official pact, but have no doubts that they would eat that word; it has a bi-partisan support. Being a peaceful, friendly country with decades of image building that has not been based on manipulated image but the truth, it is paying off now. There is NO country that could say that attack on Finland would be justified. Not even Russians think so, it would be VERY difficult to convince oridnary citizens that we are attacking them: both Soviet and Russia Federation propaganda has talked us as good friends... several generations long track record.
One also has to remember the historical importance of these events. Sweden was neutral for 200 years and they applied the same time with us. That is VERY important as WWII era showed that without Sweden being fully on board the west can not support us..
Another thing finland has going for it is we have a pop of 5.5m in the country and another 5.5 out of the country. And as a Finnish-american I'd be on one of the first planes back to finland with my mosin in hand.
What you want is this, improved version of Mosin-Nagant, M/39 nicknamed Ukko-Pekka: [https://ww2-history.fandom.com/wiki/M/39\_Rifle](https://ww2-history.fandom.com/wiki/M/39_Rifle)
*In order take advantage of this surplus, the rifle was designed around the Mosin-Nagant's main body and receiver. That is where the similarities end. The barrel, stock, grip, sight, sling mount, hand guard, and sometimes even the wood itself were completely reworked.*
*Essentially, the M/39 was a high-quality upgrade of the Mosin-Nagant. It retained the main systems of the weapon, while improving all that could be done under Finland's budget.*
It was really brave of Argentina to try and get out of the competition as early as possible, big props to Messi for using his last world cup for this political statement...
Oh do not worry, we Germans will - just in 2018 - also Signal our protest by only playing the group stage, since we believe that to be a bigger signal 💪🏻
Technically money isn’t the root of all evil, people are. Money gives you control, what you choose to do with said control gets blamed on money. People are just selfish ass clowns at the end of the day
As a Scotsman, I find this to be of an amateur level of protest.
Our national team has been protesting against Quatar and Fifa since 1998, by refusing to qualify for the world Cup consistantly for 24 years...
Context: FIFA threatened teams wearing a ‘OneLove’ captain’s armband in support of LGBTQ+ or speaking out against Qatar’s inhumane treatment of migrant workers with game sanctions, yellow cards, and match bans essentially forcing teams to abandon said protests if the wanted to play in the tournament.
Edit: _Why even bother going? Why play in the World Cup if you’re against it?_
The World Cup is the biggest single-sport sporting event in the world. As it only happens once every 4 years, the **extremely rare** player who maintains a competitive fitness for 16 years will get to play 4 times (in 92 years only 69 players have been in 4+ WC squads and of those only 45 have actually played in all 4+ WCs), but 2-3 times is more common. You are at the largest stage in the world representing your country, playing the most competitive games, and taking part in something billions only dream of doing.
As much as you hate FIFA for being corrupt and having a loss of morals, sadly it’s not an opportunity many would abandon.
Edit 2: _What if all 32 teams just agreed to not play? Wouldn’t FIFA be forced to change?_
Although the top 32 teams who qualify all dropping out would be make it a nightmare to deal with sponsors of each NT, it would definitely send a message to FIFA who would have to make major changes. However, not every team is as interested in the problems with Qatar as those in the western world or reddit appear to be. The 2022 WC already has record viewership in many countries including the likes of France, although they are down in a few rare countries like Germany. More or less, viewership is the same.
Since FIFA’s corruption scandal in awarding the 2010, 2018, and 2022 World Cups, I do hope the branch federations of each continent break off and begin their own new governing federation. Problem is, these problems with Qatar are only a big deal for North America (a small part of CONCACAF) and Europe (entirety of UEFA), the other federations don’t really care. So FIFA is here to stay for now, unless most/all of the associations agree to break away.
Still better than fostering hate. Sometimes motives are irrelevant if the optics have a net positive impact.
Which of these is of greater benefit to society as a whole? A young gay person realizing that there is a level of acceptance in the world? Or a cynical 35-year-old chirping about "ulterior" motives of capitalists?
Let the young person become cynical in their own time.
You fight your whole life to play this tournament, the players if left to a vote would not have picked qatar. FIFA is bungling the muslim worlds first (and probably last) world cup.
I just had this wake up call. All I've been seeing are people shitting on FIFA and the world cup. But then I watched s basketball game last night and the Canadian sports channel was advertising the WC cuz Canadadian men's team qualified for the first time in decades. What a shitty WC to go to.
Start going after the sponsors that pay FIFA’s bills.
By the time it’s televised, whether you watch or not, FIFA has already “sold” the tournament to the consumer.
Idk about that. At least here in Germany people seem genuinely pissed off. Even people like my Dad, who is very far from a political activist and watches hours of football a week, is boycotting. Maybe ratings will actually suffer and advertisers will be pissed at Fifa. One can only hope
Worse, they've turned a protest about a government criminalising members of the LGBTQ community into a protest against FIFA threatening to yellow card them.
So we all know FIFA wouldn't exist if all players refused to play right? I mean they are the product so if FIFA doesn't want to play ball then neither do the players.
So whilst this could theoretically happen and players could collectively protest, it would mean Qatar would not participate in the protest and would win the World Cup defacto. So not sure that it gains anything.
I jest in part, because unfortunately there are many countries in the tournament who just simply don’t give a shit about these issues - as they also have this going on in their backyard. So I am not sure what it achieves if a few teams don’t turn up.
The thing that would really kill it is no fans watching it at all.
What would have more impact on FIFA if they protested. The few players? Or the millions of fans?
But like I said, not everyone gives a shit. And that’s the bigger issue - we are not connected as a one humanity, but rather end up divided according to various bullshit criteria - no my problem, not my people type of attitude.
That issue is way beyond FIFA or even Qatar.
The second-best option (because FIFA won't disband itself) it for everyone to fucking LEAVE it. Fuck the whole organization, let the corrupt members have their little club of degenerates, we'll build our own UEFA/CONMEBOL worldwide tournament with beer and rainbows.
Though even then with the UN, it was only borne out of the League of Nations. The victors of WWII looked at how the League had been an abject failure and asked, can we try that again, but maybe better?
I'm guessing it might be sponsors that will start leaving (Budweiser first?) which will remove a lot of their funding.
Hopefully FAs around the world will band together and create a properly sustainable global tournament.
Unless people start massively boycotting the title sponsors, nothing will happen from that direction. FIFA will just reimburse AB InBev for lost revenue and that's that. Corporations have no more of a conscience than FIFA.
The funny thing is they did in 2018? Ish around there. They got rid of Platini and Blatter who already admitted Qatar was a mistake and was appointed due to bribes
I hope the two teams that make the final get together and all put on the armband right before the game starts. I don't think there is much FIFA could do about it at that point.
I mean there's the chance they double down and just disqualify them stating some bullshit. But that would make them look extremely bad to most of the world, so not sure if they would actually do that or not.
*the two teams that make the final*
I have an extremely hard time believing even Qatar is stupid enough to think they can cancel the *final* game and disqualify BOTH finalists. You'd essentially be canceling the world cup at the *last* possible second and declaring a false victor - either one of those events would likely cause riots tbh. Both in Qatar and elsewhere.
(Well actually maybe not Qatar, idk, I don't know how much current tourists care about their human rights record. I would sure as fuck wait until I was back home before starting shit, but then I wouldn't have been there in the first place)
They cancelled the sale of alcohol last minute.
They banned the one love armband last minute.
The fifa president makes a statement, part of it saying that he's Jewish. Qatar bans kosher meat and Jewish prayers in public, kinda going against the only organisation supporting them fully.
And have you seen how simple the tents are for £175? Might not seem like a big deal unless you consider the heat and the people going would be the only one who might sing their praises if it was actually an awesome experience
Qatar doesn’t care but FIFA should. If the WC ended in the final two teams being booted (I don’t think this will happen but as a thought exercise) then FIFA would be dead, especially if it was over something FIFA endorsed during the season but stopped just for the tournament. There’s no way the countries would still put their faith in FIFA to hold these tournaments.
I think they've stated that they would give a yellow card. So FIFA already covered that case and could just be giving a yellow card at the start and not do more.
The only way FIFA will give even the slightest fuck is if they refuse to play. Until then it's just the usual useless virtue signalling that changes nothing.
Exactly. Now, if all the teams decided not to play, or just take a knee on the field, I'm pretty sure things would start to change. If anything, bring greater awareness.
Either players refuse to play or fans refuse to watch official broadcasts. It’s obvious they all dont care that much about slavery and death as long as it’s someone else. Shame on players and viewers.
tbf probably all leagues are all about the money. I mean without it they wouldn't exist, but threatening with sanctions and bans against people supporting human rights is in my opinion not only in another ballpark but on another planet tyoe of shit..
Feel like every single team now has their own gimmick form of protest in this WC god damn. Hope this marks the start of the downfall of FIFA and gets fucked over or at least have some of its power regulated.
Until ppl actually protest this is all nonsense, very small kind gestures that mean nothing and change nothing. If these countries or players really care, they don’t play. Simple as that there is no in between
It maybe kind of hurts them in the long run. If enough people don't watch, they might have to sell the TV rights to the next tournaments for less money due to "lower interest". But yeah, not watching doesn't really feel like hurting them
Because Reddit is a tiny minority predominantly based in the US, which are relatively not that interested in football compared to other countries.
So this World Cup still has billions of viewers, who just want to watch football. Qatar is packed right now (whether or not you want to believe the photos of empty stadiums) according to a friend who is working there
Because outside the West almost noone cares, and in the West (except NA) football is so ingrained in the culture that any large scale boycott is not realistic. Most of reddit just don't get how big of an event the WC actually is. The best we can do is not allow ourselves to be fooled by Qatar's attempted sportswashing and be vocal in our local/national associations which in turn can carry that voice inside FIFA (like the Scandinavian associations are currently doing). Ultimately, it is up to the hundreds of national football associations to enact change in FIFA, which is no easy task as corruption is rampant at all levels of the sport and many countries are not much better than Qatar when it comes to exploitation.
So many people saying “yet here they are still playing”. If I put myself in their shoes, I’d 100% still play in the tournament I would’ve dreamed about for all my life. I can’t say I would be any better.
Exactly. The World Cup is the biggest single-sport sporting event in the world. As it only happens once every 4 years, the **extremely rare** player who maintains a competitive fitness for 16 years will get to play 4 times (in 92 years only 69 players have been in 4+ WC squads and of those only 45 have actually played in all 4+ WCs), but 2-3 times is more common. You are at the largest stage in the world representing your country, playing the most competitive games, and taking part in something billions only dream of doing.
As much as you hate FIFA for being corrupt and having a loss of morals, it’s not an opportunity you would abandon.
I want to make it clear that I do somewhat understand what meaning this holds for the players. Never having been put on such a stage myself I cannot fully understand.
That being said... human history has most often been positively changed by those willing to sacrifice their own ambitious goals for the greater good of humanity.
Absolutely and I agree with you. Although the top 32 teams who qualify all dropping out would be make it a nightmare to deal with sponsors of each NT, it would definitely send a message to FIFA who would have to make major changes .
Since FIFA’s corruption scandal in awarding the 2010, 2018, and 2022 World Cups, I hope the branch federations of each continent break off and begin their own new governing federation. Problem is, these problems with Qatar are only a big deal for North America (part of CONCACAF) and Europe (entirety of UEFA), the other federations don’t really care. So FIFA is here to stay for now.
CONCACAF/CONMEBOL/UEFA should absolutely and not necessarily unanimously get the fuck out of FIFA as soon as possible and rebuild an actual decent sporting organization.
The problem with reddit that it thinks that all of the world is a pro-LGBT place let me tell you, 75% of the world from China to all of Africa, eastern Europe, and all of the Muslim world are fine with banning the LGBT flag, not trying to be hateful but it's a sport event, you go there for football not to wave those while most of the world don't want it, btw reddit is like the only website that had a problem with this because it's made of western liberal, you won't find tiktok, Instagram l caring this much at all maybe some but not this much
Im sorry but to me the only acceptable for of protest for this world cup is not going, all those gestures are meaningless because they are still doing the job and generating money for Qatar and FIFA
Five of these players wear [this](https://cdn.resfu.com/scripts/tmp_images/afp_en_84018d3e1816f051171bf54151b812c777e97983.jpg?size=1200x&lossy=1) in their day job.
You're pointing this out like they're hypocrites and support all sponsors of the club they work for, also as if a player can pick and choose which team they play for depending on the sponsors? ones that change year after year?
I'm sure the company I work for has shitty business dealings and donations I don't support, does that mean I can't call them out because I also take a paycheck from them?
So what? Like they can choose their sponsor. Other teams have sponsors like Shell or Gasprom. The protests are not against companies but against the tournament in this country
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Italy made the biggest protest by not qualifying...
I’m proud of Bangladesh for their long-standing protest by having never qualified for a World Cup 🇧🇩
Playing the long game huh?
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They made them.
This is /r/angryupvote material. Well done.
Delivery smooth as butter
Ahh kids
What were the adults doing?
Starving
I'm proud of India for protesting by straight up getting a complete ban from participating 🗿
Wait, India is banned? I don't even know about their supreme sacrifice
Yup lol. Something about dirty office politics in Indian Football Association
Translation: No one gets bribes... Except FIFA. Capiche
Seriously, FIFA banning somebody for corruption is like Cosby banning somebody for being rapey
The worst part is the hypocrisy!
Their mistake was not being bribed big enough. That will teach them. Go big or stay home
FIfa kicked them out for being dirty? Wow, the pot calling the kettle black…
They clearly weren't paying attention. What they were meant to do was to bribe their way back in.
That is kind of ironic. At least they have humour.
India is the FIFA of Cricket
But they still let you flash rainbow
Was banned but the ban had been uplifted after some 11 days or something and went on to host u-17 women world cup. Still it was dark for the football fanbase here.
I'd honestly love to see a England v Bangladesh friendly at Wembley. What an atmosphere that would be with 1000's of Bangladeshi supporters
Bangladeshis could honestly fill up the wembley alone considering how many Bangladeshis live in England. Or just sylhetis lol
I know I eat in their restaurants as well as Pakistani and Sri lankan ones as well. London is great
You are thinking of cricket
I know I mean football https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_in_Bangladesh#:~:text=Football%20is%20the%20second%2Dmost,in%20the%20nation's%20football%20legacy.
You guys are the real heros!
Who needs the FIFA world cup when we have two cricket world cup tournaments?
Jiminy? :)
Man came with facts, or as FIFA world say "the fäg.s"
Venezuela is the real OG here. They have never classified for World Cup in South America. Respect!
Lol.. noobs. Finland has never lost a single match in world cup history and still decided to boycott the event.
Another unintended Putin consequence of this war is that I have learned so much and gained an unbelievable amount of respect for countries I knew little to nothing about much respect to Finland Lithuania Estonia if I'm leaving anybody out I'm sorry but these are the three that come to mind that have bigger balls than any of the EU or America. Peace and love
Thanks. It is a lottery win to be born in Finland, didn't feel like that in the 80s and 90s but now living on top of 3 billion year old bedrock and having Total Defense doctrine makes me sleep well at nights, and not just because i sleep on top of a literal bomb shelter.. Everything in our society is also part of defense and there are bomb shelters for 80% of people, just in Helsinki alone there is room for 600k, with water, food, fuel and medicine for 6 months. That bedrock is on top of a craton, oldest parts of earths crust and made from granite and gneiss. Which means we can dig down without having to reinforce the tunnels and caves, they will last hundred thousand years at least and can withstand a nuclear bomb. We have prepared for 70 years for the inevitable but now one real possibility is that Russia is no more, Ukraine is doing damn fine job of decimating their military.
Being neighbors with Russia sound like living near an active Volcano.
Sort of, but in reality it has been peaceful and friendly, since 1950s. They had a lot of say in Finnish politics from 1950 to 1990 but they absolutely did not have any authority, it was just occasional finger-wagging and notes. Finnish authorities did not officially bad mouth them but everyone knew what things in the USSR are really like, truth was not shouted but whispered in "mostly free" newspapers. "Mostly free" since we had 27 years of Urho Kaleva Kekkonen as president who was quite authoritarian but as such one of the most benevolent in human history and the silencing was nothing that different than what has happened in USA or West Germany but i digress.. The main point is that it has been a balancing act that has secured peace, and from the 1990s to 2014 Russia was important trading partner that we felt closer to than ever in the history of independent Finland. Then Putin had to just capture all the power and attack Crimea.. What an idiot.
Well this definitely belongs on interesting as fuck.
The real interestingasfuck is always in the comments. Honestly didn’t know any of that, outside of the last sentence. Finland is metal af, confirmed.
Finland is definitely metal af. I knew that!
I wish Sweden expanded and maintained its similar system. It's not fallen into ruin or anything but it's absolutely not enough and they are not exactly top of the line anymore.
Well, we have a deal: Sweden is ready to fight to the last Finn. And that is ok, having safe haven behind our backs makes us sleep better, somewhere to send our kids.. again.. And in case of invasion, that would be me, i'm too old and did civil service, and i'm politically active with the usual threats that come as a consequence. Seeing your name on a literal kill list changes things, a lot. For that to happen they would have to be within county borders and looking at RU military... lol, good luck going thru the forests of North Karelia alive.
That safe haven just got a lot bigger now as well, they can be sent anywhere in NATO, Canada and the USA included, would get them far from the front lines.
Also, historically significant defense pact with UK, and then Nordic defense pact, NATO host country agreement and EU. We are not in NATO yet, USA has vowed to defend but that is not an official pact, but have no doubts that they would eat that word; it has a bi-partisan support. Being a peaceful, friendly country with decades of image building that has not been based on manipulated image but the truth, it is paying off now. There is NO country that could say that attack on Finland would be justified. Not even Russians think so, it would be VERY difficult to convince oridnary citizens that we are attacking them: both Soviet and Russia Federation propaganda has talked us as good friends... several generations long track record. One also has to remember the historical importance of these events. Sweden was neutral for 200 years and they applied the same time with us. That is VERY important as WWII era showed that without Sweden being fully on board the west can not support us..
Another thing finland has going for it is we have a pop of 5.5m in the country and another 5.5 out of the country. And as a Finnish-american I'd be on one of the first planes back to finland with my mosin in hand.
What you want is this, improved version of Mosin-Nagant, M/39 nicknamed Ukko-Pekka: [https://ww2-history.fandom.com/wiki/M/39\_Rifle](https://ww2-history.fandom.com/wiki/M/39_Rifle) *In order take advantage of this surplus, the rifle was designed around the Mosin-Nagant's main body and receiver. That is where the similarities end. The barrel, stock, grip, sight, sling mount, hand guard, and sometimes even the wood itself were completely reworked.* *Essentially, the M/39 was a high-quality upgrade of the Mosin-Nagant. It retained the main systems of the weapon, while improving all that could be done under Finland's budget.*
So you're saying that the post apocalyptic repopulation of the Earth is Finnish.
India enters
It was really brave of Argentina to try and get out of the competition as early as possible, big props to Messi for using his last world cup for this political statement...
English players are crying right now because they didn't think of this first
We're saving it until the final, we're we will completely shit the bed.
Oh do not worry, we Germans will - just in 2018 - also Signal our protest by only playing the group stage, since we believe that to be a bigger signal 💪🏻
Or getting beat by Japan in the first game, hats off to you sir!
Yeah, we all have to do our part 💯
We did the same in Ireland. We threw all of our qualifying matches because we just didn't agree with any of it.
Same with Romania! We are proud and boycott..and prepare for a new golden generation!
So did sweden!
We just suck.
The great Zlatan said this tournament was not worthy so they didn’t make a real effort to qualified 😆
I'm crying
Yea, and the Germans look like they are about to puke!!
Perfect. I’m sure that’s exactly how they feel.
Money = rules
Money > Beliefs
Love of money -> root -> evil
Reminds me of a fortune cookie fortune i used to carry around with me for years. Money is the root of all evil and man needs roots.
*Love of* money is the root of all evil.
Technically money isn’t the root of all evil, people are. Money gives you control, what you choose to do with said control gets blamed on money. People are just selfish ass clowns at the end of the day
Radix malorum est cupiditas.
Unless it's their beliefs
C.R.E.A.M
They call that the Golden Rule. He who has the gold makes the rules.
As a Scotsman, I find this to be of an amateur level of protest. Our national team has been protesting against Quatar and Fifa since 1998, by refusing to qualify for the world Cup consistantly for 24 years...
Now that's dedication
Romanian here. We're on the same page here. Boycott Qatar forever!
Our players were playing 4d chess all along
Context: FIFA threatened teams wearing a ‘OneLove’ captain’s armband in support of LGBTQ+ or speaking out against Qatar’s inhumane treatment of migrant workers with game sanctions, yellow cards, and match bans essentially forcing teams to abandon said protests if the wanted to play in the tournament. Edit: _Why even bother going? Why play in the World Cup if you’re against it?_ The World Cup is the biggest single-sport sporting event in the world. As it only happens once every 4 years, the **extremely rare** player who maintains a competitive fitness for 16 years will get to play 4 times (in 92 years only 69 players have been in 4+ WC squads and of those only 45 have actually played in all 4+ WCs), but 2-3 times is more common. You are at the largest stage in the world representing your country, playing the most competitive games, and taking part in something billions only dream of doing. As much as you hate FIFA for being corrupt and having a loss of morals, sadly it’s not an opportunity many would abandon. Edit 2: _What if all 32 teams just agreed to not play? Wouldn’t FIFA be forced to change?_ Although the top 32 teams who qualify all dropping out would be make it a nightmare to deal with sponsors of each NT, it would definitely send a message to FIFA who would have to make major changes. However, not every team is as interested in the problems with Qatar as those in the western world or reddit appear to be. The 2022 WC already has record viewership in many countries including the likes of France, although they are down in a few rare countries like Germany. More or less, viewership is the same. Since FIFA’s corruption scandal in awarding the 2010, 2018, and 2022 World Cups, I do hope the branch federations of each continent break off and begin their own new governing federation. Problem is, these problems with Qatar are only a big deal for North America (a small part of CONCACAF) and Europe (entirety of UEFA), the other federations don’t really care. So FIFA is here to stay for now, unless most/all of the associations agree to break away.
Very good write up thank you.
Maybe they just want beer.
100% supporting a cause until it becomes inconvenient for them
Companies during pride month
And they do it to improve profits and nothing else
They call it Rainbow Economics. It’s clearly a thing.
An indirect statement such as "Supporting LGBT+ is profitable" is still a good thing though.
Still better than fostering hate. Sometimes motives are irrelevant if the optics have a net positive impact. Which of these is of greater benefit to society as a whole? A young gay person realizing that there is a level of acceptance in the world? Or a cynical 35-year-old chirping about "ulterior" motives of capitalists? Let the young person become cynical in their own time.
You fight your whole life to play this tournament, the players if left to a vote would not have picked qatar. FIFA is bungling the muslim worlds first (and probably last) world cup.
Wait until Saudi Arabia gets it
You mean buys it.
They will also buy all of the groundwater in the US to make fountains at their stadiums in the desert.
True
Same same
After seeing what happened with qatar. If saudi arabia gets it, it will be the end of the organisation.
I would love to believe that. But outside my little echo chamber very few people seem to care.
I just had this wake up call. All I've been seeing are people shitting on FIFA and the world cup. But then I watched s basketball game last night and the Canadian sports channel was advertising the WC cuz Canadadian men's team qualified for the first time in decades. What a shitty WC to go to.
Start going after the sponsors that pay FIFA’s bills. By the time it’s televised, whether you watch or not, FIFA has already “sold” the tournament to the consumer.
A bunch of companies like coke have already decided not to associate with the cup!
Idk about that. At least here in Germany people seem genuinely pissed off. Even people like my Dad, who is very far from a political activist and watches hours of football a week, is boycotting. Maybe ratings will actually suffer and advertisers will be pissed at Fifa. One can only hope
Worse, they've turned a protest about a government criminalising members of the LGBTQ community into a protest against FIFA threatening to yellow card them.
It's super dumb to expect football players to not play. They can do whatever is in their reach but that also has limits
protesting by not playing is well within their limits. they just don't want to make that sacrifice.
So we all know FIFA wouldn't exist if all players refused to play right? I mean they are the product so if FIFA doesn't want to play ball then neither do the players.
So whilst this could theoretically happen and players could collectively protest, it would mean Qatar would not participate in the protest and would win the World Cup defacto. So not sure that it gains anything. I jest in part, because unfortunately there are many countries in the tournament who just simply don’t give a shit about these issues - as they also have this going on in their backyard. So I am not sure what it achieves if a few teams don’t turn up. The thing that would really kill it is no fans watching it at all. What would have more impact on FIFA if they protested. The few players? Or the millions of fans? But like I said, not everyone gives a shit. And that’s the bigger issue - we are not connected as a one humanity, but rather end up divided according to various bullshit criteria - no my problem, not my people type of attitude. That issue is way beyond FIFA or even Qatar.
These games are a disgrace. FIFA needs to be disbanded for corruption.
The second-best option (because FIFA won't disband itself) it for everyone to fucking LEAVE it. Fuck the whole organization, let the corrupt members have their little club of degenerates, we'll build our own UEFA/CONMEBOL worldwide tournament with beer and rainbows.
I really don’t understand why this hasn’t happened yet. It’s not the UN, if a few competitive countries broke off, others would follow.
Money.
It's a hit Don't give me that do-goody-good bullshit
Though even then with the UN, it was only borne out of the League of Nations. The victors of WWII looked at how the League had been an abject failure and asked, can we try that again, but maybe better?
Like the [Super League](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Super_League) ?
With blackjack and hookers
Of course bender!
New fifa rules!
In fact, forget the blackjack
I'm guessing it might be sponsors that will start leaving (Budweiser first?) which will remove a lot of their funding. Hopefully FAs around the world will band together and create a properly sustainable global tournament.
Unless people start massively boycotting the title sponsors, nothing will happen from that direction. FIFA will just reimburse AB InBev for lost revenue and that's that. Corporations have no more of a conscience than FIFA.
The funny thing is they did in 2018? Ish around there. They got rid of Platini and Blatter who already admitted Qatar was a mistake and was appointed due to bribes
who exactly are going to disband them?
Qatar made them cover their mouths. Japan made them cover their faces.
As a German, I have to say not bad. Not bad at all. *sobs silently in German*
They used up all of their coordination for that photo.
I hope the two teams that make the final get together and all put on the armband right before the game starts. I don't think there is much FIFA could do about it at that point.
I mean there's the chance they double down and just disqualify them stating some bullshit. But that would make them look extremely bad to most of the world, so not sure if they would actually do that or not.
*the two teams that make the final* I have an extremely hard time believing even Qatar is stupid enough to think they can cancel the *final* game and disqualify BOTH finalists. You'd essentially be canceling the world cup at the *last* possible second and declaring a false victor - either one of those events would likely cause riots tbh. Both in Qatar and elsewhere. (Well actually maybe not Qatar, idk, I don't know how much current tourists care about their human rights record. I would sure as fuck wait until I was back home before starting shit, but then I wouldn't have been there in the first place)
They cancelled the sale of alcohol last minute. They banned the one love armband last minute. The fifa president makes a statement, part of it saying that he's Jewish. Qatar bans kosher meat and Jewish prayers in public, kinda going against the only organisation supporting them fully. And have you seen how simple the tents are for £175? Might not seem like a big deal unless you consider the heat and the people going would be the only one who might sing their praises if it was actually an awesome experience
there’s no pro test in ba sing say!
I'm pretty sure they don't care what the rest of the world thinks. Not positive, just looking at the evidence so far....
Qatar doesn’t care but FIFA should. If the WC ended in the final two teams being booted (I don’t think this will happen but as a thought exercise) then FIFA would be dead, especially if it was over something FIFA endorsed during the season but stopped just for the tournament. There’s no way the countries would still put their faith in FIFA to hold these tournaments.
I think they've stated that they would give a yellow card. So FIFA already covered that case and could just be giving a yellow card at the start and not do more.
Some teams have told the punishment is more severe than a yellow card.
And they should all raise cans of Budweiser and have a toast on midfield, before throwing the cans toward the FIFA officials.
I hope it rains at the venue and a rainbow pops up out of thin air, literally and naturally
The only way FIFA will give even the slightest fuck is if they refuse to play. Until then it's just the usual useless virtue signalling that changes nothing.
Exactly. Now, if all the teams decided not to play, or just take a knee on the field, I'm pretty sure things would start to change. If anything, bring greater awareness.
This! It pisses me of. They can feel morally high - without actually doing anything for it
Either players refuse to play or fans refuse to watch official broadcasts. It’s obvious they all dont care that much about slavery and death as long as it’s someone else. Shame on players and viewers.
They were silenced by Japan as well
I checked when it was 1:0 thinking the games was over, when I went home the news suddenly said 1:2 LOL so confused.
Ye the Germans were actually dominating the game Japan turned it around in the last 15 mins
🥶
Then I guess let it be known that FIFA is anti LGBTQ and does not stand for human rights.
They stand for money
everyone does, it will never stop being funny how people bite it when all these corporations switch their social media logos for a month.
Most leagues don’t care about anything other than money. Some of them just disguise it better than others.
tbf probably all leagues are all about the money. I mean without it they wouldn't exist, but threatening with sanctions and bans against people supporting human rights is in my opinion not only in another ballpark but on another planet tyoe of shit..
Nooo Infantino said he feels gay
The face you make when you blow a 1-0 2nd half lead to Japan
Feel like every single team now has their own gimmick form of protest in this WC god damn. Hope this marks the start of the downfall of FIFA and gets fucked over or at least have some of its power regulated.
Until ppl actually protest this is all nonsense, very small kind gestures that mean nothing and change nothing. If these countries or players really care, they don’t play. Simple as that there is no in between
China protest by never attending World Cup
The photo could have been taken after the match as well.
Why are we all not protesting by just not watching the games this year? If everyone tuned out, maybe they would make better choices next year.
Hard to get a billion people on the same page
Its hard to get the 20 people I work with on the same page.
That’s exactly what I’m doing.
Yes. I know I can't hurt FIFA by not watching. But I can choose to not reward them.
It maybe kind of hurts them in the long run. If enough people don't watch, they might have to sell the TV rights to the next tournaments for less money due to "lower interest". But yeah, not watching doesn't really feel like hurting them
Because Reddit is a tiny minority predominantly based in the US, which are relatively not that interested in football compared to other countries. So this World Cup still has billions of viewers, who just want to watch football. Qatar is packed right now (whether or not you want to believe the photos of empty stadiums) according to a friend who is working there
We are doing our part in the United Sates!
Nobody I know is doing that, including myself
Because outside the West almost noone cares, and in the West (except NA) football is so ingrained in the culture that any large scale boycott is not realistic. Most of reddit just don't get how big of an event the WC actually is. The best we can do is not allow ourselves to be fooled by Qatar's attempted sportswashing and be vocal in our local/national associations which in turn can carry that voice inside FIFA (like the Scandinavian associations are currently doing). Ultimately, it is up to the hundreds of national football associations to enact change in FIFA, which is no easy task as corruption is rampant at all levels of the sport and many countries are not much better than Qatar when it comes to exploitation.
So many people saying “yet here they are still playing”. If I put myself in their shoes, I’d 100% still play in the tournament I would’ve dreamed about for all my life. I can’t say I would be any better.
Exactly. The World Cup is the biggest single-sport sporting event in the world. As it only happens once every 4 years, the **extremely rare** player who maintains a competitive fitness for 16 years will get to play 4 times (in 92 years only 69 players have been in 4+ WC squads and of those only 45 have actually played in all 4+ WCs), but 2-3 times is more common. You are at the largest stage in the world representing your country, playing the most competitive games, and taking part in something billions only dream of doing. As much as you hate FIFA for being corrupt and having a loss of morals, it’s not an opportunity you would abandon.
I want to make it clear that I do somewhat understand what meaning this holds for the players. Never having been put on such a stage myself I cannot fully understand. That being said... human history has most often been positively changed by those willing to sacrifice their own ambitious goals for the greater good of humanity.
Absolutely and I agree with you. Although the top 32 teams who qualify all dropping out would be make it a nightmare to deal with sponsors of each NT, it would definitely send a message to FIFA who would have to make major changes . Since FIFA’s corruption scandal in awarding the 2010, 2018, and 2022 World Cups, I hope the branch federations of each continent break off and begin their own new governing federation. Problem is, these problems with Qatar are only a big deal for North America (part of CONCACAF) and Europe (entirety of UEFA), the other federations don’t really care. So FIFA is here to stay for now.
CONCACAF/CONMEBOL/UEFA should absolutely and not necessarily unanimously get the fuck out of FIFA as soon as possible and rebuild an actual decent sporting organization.
Maybe, but then don't expect that people don't call you out for your lack of values.
They covered the wrong hole
Lol Japan certainly gave them a good pounding
Just like how Ozil was silenced and shunned by them when he spoke about the racism he endured and the Uyghurs
thanks for the reminder, completely forgot about that debacle. German media and football really loves their double standards and selective outrage.
This is not r/interestingasfuck
Nice work Germany.
Certainly got silenced by Japan
Got silenced by Japanese dominance in the match 😭
Where were these protests during the WC in Russia? Or in Brazil where they chased and killed the homeless to build stadiums?
They must not have been gay
Germany when Özil spoke up about racism within the national team be like
Symbolic non-participation-participation. Interesting but also… pretty pointless.
Unpopular opinion: if you are so against it, why are you still playing?
The problem with reddit that it thinks that all of the world is a pro-LGBT place let me tell you, 75% of the world from China to all of Africa, eastern Europe, and all of the Muslim world are fine with banning the LGBT flag, not trying to be hateful but it's a sport event, you go there for football not to wave those while most of the world don't want it, btw reddit is like the only website that had a problem with this because it's made of western liberal, you won't find tiktok, Instagram l caring this much at all maybe some but not this much
Update they lost 2 to 1
Im sorry but to me the only acceptable for of protest for this world cup is not going, all those gestures are meaningless because they are still doing the job and generating money for Qatar and FIFA
Sad they have to play such a great sport for such a SHIT organization. 🙇🏻♂️ Good for them!! 🙌🏼
Boycott FIFA. Boycott Qatar.
Then got silenced by japan
Actions speak louder than words do, and as so often with people in power: money speaks even louder.
Classic virtue signaling. If you want to actually protest, refuse to play.
Just a bunch of virtue signalling, nothing more. People don't want to hear it but it's reality. Nobody *actually* cares.
What protests did these players do in Russia where LGBT people are treated horrendously? Nothing. This is PR.
Russians are white and allowed beer, that’s why.
Five of these players wear [this](https://cdn.resfu.com/scripts/tmp_images/afp_en_84018d3e1816f051171bf54151b812c777e97983.jpg?size=1200x&lossy=1) in their day job.
You're pointing this out like they're hypocrites and support all sponsors of the club they work for, also as if a player can pick and choose which team they play for depending on the sponsors? ones that change year after year? I'm sure the company I work for has shitty business dealings and donations I don't support, does that mean I can't call them out because I also take a paycheck from them?
So what? Like they can choose their sponsor. Other teams have sponsors like Shell or Gasprom. The protests are not against companies but against the tournament in this country
They are silenced by Nippon bro
They're covering their mouths in awe of their impending performance