OT: The 2026 World Cup Thread

[Triumph]

And here I was thinking soccer was a non-contact sport. Silly me.

Some contact is unavoidable.

 

[mgteich]

Baseball is a 4 hour food court that people buy tickets to eat at.
The NFL is a platform to broadcast 120 commercials woven into 15 minutes of action over a span of 3 hrs 20 mins
We are more conditioned than Pavlov's dog.

When I watch the NFL, I watch zero commercials. I also generally ignore all comments from people who make the choice to watch them.

 

[raduray]

Some contact is unavoidable.

There was a lot of avoidable contact, that wasn't whistled.

 

[mosi's man]

The rules of soccer allow for pretty aggressive contact from either the side or from the front as long as you are "playing the ball". You just can't hit someone from behind. If you watched the Spain/France game, twice Lamine Yamal was knocked off the ball in the French penalty are with very aggressive contact that was "shoulder-to-shoulder". That's legal. It's not the NFL, but there's lots of contact that's legal.

 

[1960Pats]

When I watch the NFL, I watch zero commercials. I also generally ignore all comments from people who make the choice to watch them.

I record every sporting event that I'm interested in watching. In the case of the NYFL I can watch a game in almost half the time without any ads. I also turn down the sound and just watch.

 

[Gumby]

The relegation/promotion thing is fascinating. ….. Obviously there has to be a viable 2nd, 3rd and 4th divisions. Never gonna happen in football. But baseball and basketball could do it (but they won’t). I also like a sport that emphasizes the regular season. No finishing near .500 and getting hot to win.

Not entirely, see below.

Your final point is ok but if I understand correctly they don't even have playoffs right? Its just the team with the most points "wins"? I cant imagine being 75% through with a season and already mathematically knowing who the champion is. But maybe with all the relegations and changes theres good parity and that hardly ever happens

Not entirely true. As a non-fan, I can’t comment amount Premier league, or Italian, Spanish leagues; but for the Germans , Deutsche Fußball Bund (DFB) they actually have multiple trophies.
YES, the regular season winner is determined by points (or essentially won-loss standing with goal differential as tie breaker).

. But the annual DFB-Pokal is a 64-team playoff with teams qualifying from the top 3 divisions, plus state and region leagues (essentially the 4th and 5th level divisions). There is nothing funnier than seeing one of these regional teams with players who don’t even get paid knocking out a first league team in the first round of the single-elimination tourney. There have been a couple times where a 3/4th league made it to quarterfinals. This tournament occurs in regular intervals simultaneous with the regular season.

With the Champions league (usually top 3 DFB Teams) and UEFA Europa league (usually 4-6 best DFB teams) thrown into mix; there are about 6 of those 64 teams that have a chance for a TRIPLE-CROWN: league winner, DFB Pokal, & Champions/Europa win. Seldom occurs.

 

[Thelonious]

Thank goodness that nonsense is over.

 

[1960Pats]

Thank goodness that nonsense is over.

One of the great things about a tv is that you can turn the channel anytime you want.

Personally, I gave up MLB many years ago but I'm still happy for the fans who enjoy it, even though I don't.

The same goes for soccer.

 

[h0c2000]

Fifa World Cup: Uefa to boycott tournament if Gianni Infantino's investment plans go through

Uefa's 55 member associations vote to boycott the World Cup if Fifa proceeds with its plan to sell stakes in its competitions.

www.bbc.com

2026 could be the last one as we know it.

 

[tigerjohn]

Fifa World Cup: Uefa to boycott tournament if Gianni Infantino's investment plans go through

Uefa's 55 member associations vote to boycott the World Cup if Fifa proceeds with its plan to sell stakes in its competitions.

www.bbc.com

2026 could be the last one as we know it.

If UEFA doesn’t cave this won’t go anywhere. All the valuations depend on European teams participating.

 

[h0c2000]

If UEFA doesn’t cave this won’t go anywhere. All the valuations depend on European teams participating.

Or they split and do their own thing which UEFA probably feels fine about.

 

[tigerjohn]

Or they split and do their own thing which UEFA probably feels fine about.

They won’t split because then FIFA and its tournaments will be far less valuable than now and the payout to national confederation will be lower than it is now, reducing their incentive to vote for that to happen. UEFA might decide to unilaterally split but my guess is they will seek to just quash the proposal and try and beat infantino at the FIFA elections next year.