The World will expose Qatar

Let me get this out of the way before I start blogging a lot about Qatar: That country should never ever have been awarded the World Cup. Purely on football terms it is ridiculous to give the World Cup to a country that has never participated and that barely has a functioning league structure. But besides that, the problem is that you have someone hosting the entire world, who don't really want to host the world. It is a country where there is widespread discrimination against sexual orientations, women, and not least thousands and thousands of migrant workers. On the latter, it is estimated that up to 6500 workers have died constructing the stadiums; this is of course a figure that is disputed, but it seems beyond dispute that at least hundreds have died.

And that is already too much, no matter how you turn it. Nobody should die constructing football stadiums.

There is much discussion about boycotting. I am going to watch as many games as possible. While I will enjoy the football, I hope that both players and fans, together with a critical media (that will be prevented from doing their work by Qatari authorities for sure), will expose Qatar for what it is: a filthy regime built on migrant work that pays to get good propaganda that they do not deserve. I hope every opportunity will be used to expose them.

Someone else needs to be exposed as much as the Qatari regime: FIFA, who for money and greed is destroying the World Cup, not just by giving it to a country like Qatar (incredibly Sepp Blatter, a man with firsthand knowledge of the dirty inside workings of FIFA, said that Qatar should never have been awarded the tournament), but also by its idiotic proposals of expanding the tournament and making it every two years, proposals that are so blatantly against the beauty of the sport and the fans.

It hurts that football is being destroyed by these people, and we as fans (and as decent humans) should denounce it as much as we can. 

Let us show these people that football can bring us together against greed and evil!

The League of Greed

The news that 12 European top clubs would form their own European Super League has surely shaken the football establishment, with top politicians even commenting on what most football fans seem to consider a stupid, not to say dangerous, initiative for the sport. 

I always try to be open to any idea. A Super League would get encompass 12 strong teams into what would be some interesting matches. However, this is also the only good thing I can think about the initiative, as much as I try: a closed league would destroy competition and the possibility of the little guy beating the giant; it seems more an initiative for these top clubs to protect themselves and the humiliation of losing to the likes of Alcoyano, Aston Villa, Red Bull Salzburg or FC Porto...

I cannot in any way see that the clubs involved in this league are thinking about the best for the game of football; they must have never played or watched the game in their lives! It seems to be only a question  of who controls the money; the eternal human impulse of greed. 

Although the Champions League also gives plenty of money for UEFA the entire conflict seems to be about who gets the footballing millions: Some football administrators or some of the richest businessmen in Europe, with the financial backing of JP Morgan? 

What will probably happen is that they all will reach some lucrative deal to share the millions, while the interests of the fans are put aside; although many fan groups have said they oppose the Super League, I would be surprised if these same fans are not cheering their teams in the very same tournament in a few years. 

As old-fashioned as it may sound I hope the Super League comes to nothing; that the clubs that have taken the initiative are suspended. That fans, managers and players from these clubs come together to reject the greedy plans that threaten to destroy the sport that they all profess to love. 

But I won´t bet on it.