By Philip Yeung
Every four years, the world comes together to celebrate this beautiful game—all for one and one for all.
Not this year, not in the US, a co-host with Canada and Mexico. In football-mad Mexico, they are pampering all comers with its mariachi bands in full blast. Canada, too, is busy laying out its welcome mat to one and all.
But in America, hospitality is selective, with a hitlist for "pariah" countries. If you happen to come from Somalia, the door will be slammed in your face. Just ask Africa's best male referee Omar Artan. To his bitter disappointment, he has been denied entry without explanation.
America under Trump has an attitude about people from the Global South. The spirit of brotherhood of the World Cup is just an afterthought. Four participating countries are hit with travel bans for this tournament with many others on its watch list. And what does FIFA do about this US inhospitality? Nothing. Its president, Infantino, is too busy kissing Trump's butt to care. It is he who has handed Trump an unearned FIFA's inaugural Peace Prize to appease the US president for missing out on this year's Nobel Peace Prize—a prize nauseatingly created and awarded in breach of FIFA's own rules.
Trump, alas, is guilty of having started a total of eight acts of aggression in his second term alone. Trump and Peace are an oxymoron. How does a warmonger end up holding a peace award? FIFA's political neutrality is gone with the wind. Infantino has brought it into disrepute.
Against a chorus of criticism, Infantino tells his critics to "chill and relax" while washing his hands off tournament-related visa problems. In previous World Cups, FIFA had made Germany and South Africa and other hosts guarantee entry for players and accredited officials. But not this time.
This is the biggest World Cup ever, with 48 national teams, up from 32, participating. For the first time, there are 10 African countries represented, not exactly Trump's favored guests. Many non-white journalists are only granted single entries for an extravaganza that is spread across Canada, Mexica and the US, making it an impossibility to do a complete coverage.
It is left to the UN to plead Artan's case to America, making this the least inclusive World Cup in history, despite FIFA's earlier promise to the contrary.
Infantino makes no bones about wanting a third term as president. But besides being too spineless to stand up to Trump, he is also guilty of over-commercializing the event, hiking ticket prices sky-high, with the top ticket price at $10,990 up from $1600 in 2022, pricing fans out in favor of corporate big spenders. Seats for the final are listed on its website resale platform at up to $2.3 million each. Treating this event as a cash cow, its revenue is projected at nearly $9 billion, double the 2024 Olympic intake. Money sizzles, but half-empty stadiums loom when matches open, thanks to Infantino's price-gouging.
In this tournament, FIFA's President has chosen to be a Trump sycophant. By being a bootlicker, he has surrendered all his bargaining chips, leaving players, coaches and referees at the mercy of his racist immigration policies. America is thus unfit to play host to an "all-are-welcome" international event. It tells the world that US domestic politics trumps international rules, that it can thumb its nose at its international obligations as a host without consequence. Even Hitler and Mussolini had softened their anti-Jewish measures when hosting their World Cup. This is how arrogant America has become, and how far FIFA has fallen. America plays by its own rules. FIFA is but a toadying bystander.
Fans say football is the most important of our least important things. However you slice it, the game should unite us, not divide us.
But in Trump's hands, things always go south. He has the Midas touch in reverse. Giving a warmonger a Peace Prize dishonors the prize and its giver---as meaningful as casting pearls before swine. Ego-massaging an egocentric bully makes one either a coward, a fool or both. As such, does Infantino deserve a third term? I think not.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.
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