Friday, March 06, 2015

A November World Cup?

I have been too busy on non-Football things lately, but have followed the discussion on the 2022 World Cup in Qatar being played in November according to FIFA.
Notwithstanding the allegations of corruption and the fact that this seems not to have been discussed during the selection process (?), I have to think like a football fan. First of all, let us not be hypocrites: surely temperatures in Qatar must be high, but we have demanded inhuman conditions for footballers in other World Cup: high temperatures, high altitude or even bad pitches are nothing new in the World Cup. So that is not really the main reason for me...

The World Cup is the reason I started watching football. The passion and intensity of a one month full of football was irresistible for me, and today the event still is very very special: the way an entire planet comes together around guys kicking a ball is fascinating, and if anything, the passion has only increased with media and crazy nationalism.
The World Cup is not the same any longer though.
While most of the best players play in a World Cup, the quality of football is at best mediocre, and the winners are surely not the best team in the world, nor the best country in the world, but the best short-term collective of footballers with a common passport. As such, the World Cup is a wonderful event every four years, during the summer months, when there is no other football!
That is my problem: November is a month when I want to focus on the Champions League, the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, the Bundesliga, yes, even the Danish League, all of which are really of much better quality than the World Cup!
I am sorry, I have reached a stage in my life where quality football comes first, and in November 2022 it seems I will lose the opportunity to watch good football for another second-rate over-hyped World Cup.
But I will watch it.

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