FIFA Corruption

[RFC not KFC]

some of the above posts are missing the point.

considering there are only two posts above on this topic I can reasonably assume mine is one of the those you are referencing.

I think you're missing my point. It's called a pisstake. Anyone who thinks 1 in every 4 countries, or, 85% of humanity being represented at the World Cup Finals is arguing in favour of 48 teams clearly sees no value or prestige in the FIFA World Cup Trophy. It's the equivalent of removing qualification standards for the Olympics and just letting anybody with a broom handle compete in the pole vault.

 

[craig]

FIFA Corrupt !!

Whodathunkit ....

 

[AngryAnt]

Anyone who thinks 1 in every 4 countries, or, 85% of humanity being represented at the World Cup Finals is arguing in favour of 48 teams clearly sees no value or prestige in the FIFA World Cup Trophy. It's the equivalent of removing qualification standards for the Olympics and just letting anybody with a broom handle compete in the pole vault.

Every country (who can) competes at the Olympics, no matter how terrible their competitors in a particular sport are. Their competitors get knocked out in the first heat typically. And the winner of the World Cup will still be one of about 6 nations - Italy, Germany, Spain, Argentina, Brazil, England. (Ok maybe not England.) So the prestige of winning the World Cup overall will not change much.

Having said that, it makes the qualification rounds easier/less meaningful and the first round of the WC finals a farce. So I'm agin' it.

Also, this expansion of the Cup is not really because of corruption - it's not underhanded deals and brown paper bags (AFAIK). It is definitely political (increases Infantino's popularity in the Asian and African Confeds) and is also about greed (increases revenues for the finals). So still bad/stupid/short-sighted but not corrupt.

 

[RFC not KFC]

Every country (who can) competes at the Olympics, no matter how terrible their competitors in a particular sport are. Their competitors get knocked out in the first heat typically. And the winner of the World Cup will still be one of about 6 nations - Italy, Germany, Spain, Argentina, Brazil, England. (Ok maybe not England.) So the prestige of winning the World Cup overall will not change much.

I guess I didn't dumb it down enough so nobody to blame but myself. I know how the Olympics work and assumed most people would realise I was referencing qualifying for the Australian team where standards are applied. That's how analogies work, my bad for not making it clear.

 

[AngryAnt]

I guess I didn't dumb it down enough so nobody to blame but myself. I know how the Olympics work and assumed most people would realise I was referencing qualifying for the Australian team where standards are applied. That's how analogies work, my bad for not making it clear.

Thanks for dumbing it down for me, I understand now.

Anyway I think we both agree the new format is a bad thing, but I don't think it will detract too much from the overall status of the finals themselves. The world champ will still be the world champ. It does make qualifying too easy though.

 

[craig]

Probably got lobbied (paid off) by countries whom expect to make the World Cup all the time that may have missed a couple of times of recent ie European or South American countries.

FIFA and the IOC are the most corrupt sports bodies on the planet.

 

[Legends of 2017]

I guess another analogy would be the AFL having a Final 8 system when there are only 16 teams in the comp a few years back, or the final 8 when there were 15 teams in 1994.
Sorry, all this corruption talk just swung my thoughts towards the afl

 

[Ian4]

I think you're missing my point. It's called a p!sstake. Anyone who thinks 1 in every 4 countries, or, 85% of humanity being represented at the World Cup Finals is arguing in favour of 48 teams clearly sees no value or prestige in the FIFA World Cup Trophy.

OK, fair enough. I obviously misread your argument. I still stay the short-sightedness of FIFA is breathtaking by not factoring in world cup qualifiers.

Every country (who can) competes at the Olympics, no matter how terrible their competitors in a particular sport are. Their competitors get knocked out in the first heat typically. And the winner of the World Cup will still be one of about 6 nations - Italy, Germany, Spain, Argentina, Brazil, England. (Ok maybe not England.) So the prestige of winning the World Cup overall will not change much.

mmm... I guess you could mount an augment that having a knockout phrase at the round of 32 puts the bigger teams at a higher risk of elimination considering its a one off match.

Also, this expansion of the Cup is not really because of corruption - it's not underhanded deals and brown paper bags (AFAIK). It is definitely political (increases Infantino's popularity in the Asian and African Confeds) and is also about greed (increases revenues for the finals). So still bad/stupid/short-sighted but not corrupt.

fair point. I wonder what the other federations will think about Asia getting 8.5 spots? I guess from a purely population perspective (plus 47 member nations), the extra spots are deserved, but from a performance perspective, its not.

 

[poppa x]

Oceania gets a guaranteed 1 spot
Should we opt out of Asia?

 

[Ian4]

Oceania gets a guaranteed 1 spot
Should we opt out of Asia?

Mike Cockerall (Sydney Football journo) wrote an article about it this week. what an absolute numbnuts he is. the future of the sport is in Asia. If we leave now, we don't get to compete in the Asian Cup and Asian Champions League. Australian players would also find it harder to play in Asia (due to the 3+1 rule that helps our players get gigs in Asia). And most importantly, we'd miss out on the riches of Asia... and i'm pretty sure going back to play Fiji and American Samoa is a backwards step.

don't get me wrong, if Asia remained at 4.5 spots, we'd find it really hard to qualify for world cups in future years. the money being spent on academies in places such as China and middle eastern teams will no doubt mean their national teams get much stronger (look at the UAE and Jordan in recent years for example). but Australia will also see some of the flow-on effects of this (China is investing here for example). plus the growth of the sport in Australia is at unprecedented levels. with 8.5 spots from 2026, we'll be just fine IMO.

 

[Baloo]

The confederations might be able to realign with 48 teams.

As much as the Asians like us in their Conf, the masses don't. We're not Asian (racially). But they feel the same about the middle eastern countries being in the Asia conf too.

Maybe a tiered conf structure

ME,Asia Oceania get 9 or 10 slots
ME, Asia and Oceania play their own qualifiers. Top whatever from each goes into the combined conf qualifier for final determination of WC qualification.

 

[Ian4]

The confederations might be able to realign with 48 teams.

yeah I strongly believe East and West Asia should be split with Oceana integrated into East Asia. I doubt it will happen though as politics will get in the way.

 

[1eyedtiger]

I believe the world cup should be completely split into different regions with a 'world' champion in each region. And Australia should have its own region all to itself in such an arrangement. ;D

Seriously, who cares about FIFA? Just about everything is corrupt these days. If FIFA wasn't corrupt, then it would be obvious that something's not right. :spin