Fans accuse FIFA of preferences during the World Cup. 5 scandals of the championship in the USA
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- Fans accuse FIFA of preferences during the World Cup. 5 scandals of the championship in the USA
During the FIFA World Cup, which took place in Mexico, Canada and the United States, fans demanded that the Argentine national team be suspended from the competition because, in their opinion, favorable refereeing in favor of this national team. A corresponding petition was created, which managed to gain 23 million signatures in 170 countries in a week before it was closed after the final. What other scandals overshadowed the World Cup in the USA – in the Izvestia article.
Decisions in favor of Argentina and the crisis of confidence in VAR
• The World Cup has not escaped scandals related to refereeing and video replays. Although there were fewer controversial decisions than in previous tournaments, there were isolated incidents, and they turned out to be mainly related to the Argentine national team. The current world champion faced the Egyptian national team in the 1/8 finals and lost to him with a score of 0:2 until the 79th minute. The difference could have been even greater, but referee Francois Letexier took advantage of VAR and canceled another Egyptian goal due to a foul on the counterattack.
• By the end of the second half, the Argentines managed to equalize, after which, in added time, Julian Alvarez violated the rules on Mohamed Salah. The Egyptian players demanded a penalty, but the referee refused to do so. Just a few seconds later, Enzo Fernandez scored the winning goal for Argentina. Such an incredible outcome sparked accusations of favoritism in favor of the world champions and their main star Lionel Messi.
The scandals with Argentina did not end there. In the quarterfinals against Switzerland, the fans once again had reason to be suspicious. In the 67th minute, the European team scored against Argentina and made the score 1-1, and five minutes later they were outnumbered. Argentine player Leandro Paredes made a tackle on Brel Embolo and received a warning, but VAR overturned the referee's initial decision. The replay showed that Embolo had fallen before touching down, so he was penalized with a yellow card, which turned out to be his second. The Swiss couldn't face Argentina with ten men and lost in extra time.
• Another controversial episode with VAR occurred in the 1/16 finals match between Croatia and Portugal. In the second half, the Portuguese were awarded a penalty after a video replay. He showed that Nikola Vlasic was fighting with Renato Veige and knocked him down in the penalty area, which the referee did not immediately notice. Croatian captain Luka Modric said after the match that VAR should be used only to prevent blunders by referees, and not to correct their initial decisions, otherwise you will have to endlessly double-check every episode. Croatia conceded a goal after that penalty and eventually lost the match.
• In sum, all these episodes, on the one hand, caused extensive criticism of the work of the arbitrators, accusing them of preferential refereeing, on the other – increased the dissatisfaction of VAR. FIFA president Gianni Infantino is suspected by fans of rooting for the national team of Argentina, based on several of his careless statements. There is also a popular opinion that Argentina was "dragged along" to increase fees: the longer its national team star Lionel Messi plays, the more FIFA can earn from the world championship. However, all these hypotheses are just speculation and suspicions of fans.
Brawl after the final match
• Immediately after the end of the final World Cup match between Spain and Argentina, in which the Red Fury won 1-0, a fight broke out between Argentine midfielder Leandro Paredes, who grabbed Spanish defender Garcia by the neck, and when they were separated, pushed the midfielder. He received a red card for these actions.
• Later, FIFA decided not to punish the Argentine: the fact of his removal was not included in the official protocol. It later became known that no disciplinary action would be taken against the player, but FIFA would conduct disciplinary proceedings.
Cancellation of the disqualification of a US player
• During the World Cup, there was another scandalous cancellation of the disqualification of a football player. During the 1/16 World Cup finals between the USA and Bosnia and Herzegovina, American striker Folarin Balogun received a red card due to an attack on the ankle of Tarik Muharemovich. Because of this, he had to miss the national team's next match with Belgium, but US President Donald Trump intervened in the situation. The head of the White House, in his own words, called Infantino and asked for a review of the situation, since, in the opinion of the president, it was not a foul.
• The FIFA Disciplinary Committee suspended Balogun's disqualification: he was found guilty of a violation, but the execution of the punishment was postponed for a probation period of one year. The bomber was also ordered to pay a fine of $40,000. This decision was fiercely discussed on social media, it caused a wave of indignation, which intensified amid media reports that Mohammad al Kamali, the head of the disciplinary committee, which includes 18 people, allegedly decided to lift the suspension alone, without consultation. Although it is not prohibited, the committee's decisions are usually made collectively.
• Information also began to appear that Al Kamali from the UAE maintains relations with Infantino and with American football officials, thanks to whose lobbying he got his post. At the same time, Belgium did not intend to ignore the incident. Despite the 1/8 victory against the United States, the Royal Belgian Football Association filed a complaint against the FIFA decision, but the appeals committee declared its appeal inadmissible, since the Belgian side was not a party to the initial disciplinary proceedings and had no legal grounds for filing a complaint.
High ticket prices
• Almost every major sporting event inevitably faces a number of complaints and scandals due to problems in the organization. However, in the case of the 2026 World Cup, their scale was so significant that it led to a boycott of the championship by the president of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), Alexander Ceferin. According to media reports, the last straw for him was the situation with the cancellation of Balogun's disqualification.
• The loudest complaints are about the extremely high ticket prices, and especially for the final match. This year, FIFA introduced dynamic pricing for the first time, in which the cost of tickets and their availability varied depending on demand, creating an artificial shortage. Previously, prices were usually set by stage and category and remained more predictable. In the same year, two fans could buy tickets to neighboring seats for the same match at very different prices.
• At the beginning of the tournament, tickets for the group stage during the initial sales could be purchased from $60 to $620, but this schedule did not apply to all matches. For the most sought-after games, especially the opening matches and the host teams, prices were significantly higher. Also, as dynamic adjustments were made, the minimum price of many freely available tickets for group stage matches rose to about $140, as tickets for $60 quickly disappeared or were in special quotas. For the FIFA World Cup final, official ticket prices initially ranged from $2,030 to $6,370, and then, during sales, the maximum standard ticket price jumped to $10,990. In July, the cheapest ticket for the final match already cost more than $5,000, although the initial minimum price was about $2 thousand .
Organization, logistics and visas
• During the champion, many fans complained about the inconvenient and expensive logistics. Due to the fact that the match cities are located at great distances from each other, it was necessary to spend a lot of time and money on the road. Moving, sometimes, flights and hotel accommodations were expensive, and in addition, it is often difficult to travel in the United States without a car: public transport does not completely solve the problem. In this regard, some fans recalled the Russian Fan ID, which during the 2018 World Cup gave the right to free travel on special trains.
• The Iranian national team and the country's delegation had a particularly difficult time in this regard. Due to the conflict in the Middle East, the team was based in Mexico, one of the host countries, and was not allowed to stay in the United States after the game day. This meant that the team had to fly to the States in the morning for the match, board the plane immediately after it, and go through border control twice a day.
• It was not only the Iranian national team that had problems with the right to stay in the United States. Some football players were interrogated for hours upon arrival in the United States — the national teams of Uzbekistan, Senegal and Brazil had a hard time. The Iraqi attacker, named Hussein, was suspected of having links to a terrorist because of his name and interrogated for more than seven hours. A photographer from Iraq was banned from entering after 10 hours of interrogation. In addition, the United States denied a visa to Somali referee Omar Artan, a similar story happened with the head of the Palestinian Football Association, Jibril Rajoub. Despite the fact that the Palestinian team did not participate in the championship, FIFA traditionally invites representatives of the football community to major tournaments. So Rajoub received accreditation and became an honored guest of the opening match in Mexico City, but he could not enter the United States.
• Despite the fact that FIFA does not influence the visa policies of states, it is mainly this organization that has received accusations of organizational problems. They were also criticized for the three-minute pauses for drinking in the 22nd and 67th minutes of the match. Despite the fact that the games were played against a backdrop of intense heat, many coaches criticized these pauses, explaining that they were disrupting the course of the game. According to critics, officials introduced them only when they realized that this time could be used for commercial advertising on television, although for more than 50 years the organization has taken an extremely tough position on this issue, not allowing football players to drink water even at the risk of heat stroke.
• The incident during the Qatar–Switzerland match was a vivid illustration of the critics' position. The teams had already returned to the field after a three-minute break, but the main referee blocked the game. He did not allow the meeting to be resumed for more than a minute, because at that moment there was still an advertisement on American television that did not keep up with the timing.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
