The grotesquely corrupt FIFA and Soccer . . . have they finally arrived where ICC and cricket were in the 1980s?!

As we approach the end of yet another festival of obscene capitalism and corruption in the form of FIFA’s soccer world cup 2026, it is an opportune time to address some of the inherent changes that are taking place in the politics of the game. This was the first time in the tournament’s long history that African and Asian teams were competitive although systematically engineered out of the tournament.

Fig. 1 - FIFA soccer world cup 2026

The Cricket experience

FIFA and Soccer are experiencing the transition that the International Cricket Council (ICC, then known as the International Cricket Conference – originating as an exclusively white organisation) and cricket went through in the 1980s, where a sport that was completely dominated, funded and administered by White Europeans was confronting the challenge presented by coloured nations. In the case of cricket, the transition took over 20 years commencing with the long-awaited inclusion of Sri Lanka into the test arena in the 80s and ending with India dominating the funding of the game in the naughties. The inclusion of Sri Lanka had been strongly resisted by Australia and England, who did not want to see a majority of test playing nations to be coloured. The West Indians, who thought they were white, along with the other white nations ensured that it remained that way. With the inclusion of Sri Lanka there were 4 coloured teams and only 3 white.  The pure racism in making such decisions may appear ridiculous now, and some whites will deny it even today, but racism was extreme at the time. With the domination of coloured nations in the arena, membership was then opened to a far wider range of nations as it is now.

The racism continued beyond that time most prominent in the attitude taken towards umpiring and cheating in the game. In the white nations the narrative would always be that the Asian umpires were cheats even though the cheating was more prevalent in the white nations – particularly when playing the coloured nations. With television exposing the levels of white cheating, these narratives were gradually squashed – cheating happened everywhere.

The accusations of cheating were not limited to the umpires but also the players. The most infamous incident was the ball tampering accusations when Pakistan first brought the technique of reverse swing into the game – a technique that now is standard for all pace bowlers. There was no evidence what-so-ever of tampering and yet, the team was branded with the label of cheating. When in fact, the real cheaters in the game are Australians as has been proven on several occasions in more recent times, including the sandpaper affair – the “win at all costs” mentality taking control of their mindset.

Most innovation in the game was coming from the sub-continent and as such, each time an innovation came along, the team concerned would be accused of cheating. The “doosra” was yet another example of this. The orthodoxy of cricketing schools in more wealthy nations had killed any hopes of innovation.

With cricket becoming a professional sport, along with the money came corruption. The corruption was mostly limited to the wealthy white nations, where the money was. However, approaching the turn of the century, there was more money channelled into the sub-continent and, not surprisingly, they wanted a share of the spoils.

As the Indian market for cricket exploded in the early naughties, so did the wealth of the India Cricket Board and with it its influence in the administration of the game. So much so, that now, nations that used to despise going on tour to India now beg for that opportunity. Players from some of the most racist nations such as Australia, now head off to India to be treated as servs by the Indians – simply for the money.

The implication in soccer.

FIFA has, from its inception been a cesspit of corruption. With sports dominating TV screens in the 80s the money poured into the game. Some of the contracts of obscene amounts were a highlight of the time. As an example, the Maradona transfer fee of $9.2m is an example – an extraordinary number for the time. Of course, with money came crime and corruption.

The public have always known very well that the organisation was full of slimy corrupt individuals, and they would pick one or two that they would use as scapegoats and direct all their anger towards them – no different to what we see today with the current president, Infantino and Trump. It should be mentioned that Infantino is on an obscene salary of $6M pa! This anger would peak every 4 years when the “World” cup (although it was merely white nations that participated – what was generally accepted as the “world” – for most of its history).

Fig. 2 - Multi-cultural athletes

The tournament was a squeaky white tournament that couldn’t possibly be tainted with the participation of coloured nations. There has been a chequered history of racism with a few token inclusions of “non-white” nations which predominantly consisted of failed white players masquerading as Indonesians or Egyptians – sort of the Lawrence of Arabia of soccer! Of course, this was a time when colonialism was at its heights.

So, inevitably soccer has been cruising along, racist as ever, without needing to be concerned in the least. However, this year, we noticed a significant change in the political dynamics. Where is previous years, racism was accepted and seen as the strategy to ensure the whites had favourable conditions, this time, we saw independent and social media standup and highlight the corruption and racism in the sport. Not that it had any impact on the bias of the tournament but it exposed some of the corruption. No doubt, the decay of Western influence and power was slowly but surely reflecting in the administration of the game.

The differences between the cricket and soccer journey.

A fundamental difference in the journey that cricket went through and what soccer is experiencing now is that the financial disruptor of cricket was the Indians whilst in soccer, it is the Arabs. The Indians were patriotic and a proud nation. There goal was to improve their own. Hence their investment was in domestic talent.

On the contrary, the Arabs had a sycophantic adoration for the white West which extended beyond sport. Geopolitically, the dictatorial families ruling the Arab fiefdoms, had little to no nation interest nor an interest in the sport. What they wanted was symbolism and recognition in the West. So, rather than investing in the sport at home, they poured their money in to purchasing clubs in Europe just as they did with other iconic entities such as Harrods. Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester city, Newcastle United to name a few.

As a result, the transition in soccer has taken a lot longer than it did in cricket even though there are a whole lot more coloured nations that now play the game. So, even though we saw numerous Arab players with silky smooth skills, they had little influence on officialdom and were mostly eliminated by the round of 32.

However, it is clear that the Arab nations are a force to reckon with.

The Trumpianisation of this world cup

Add to the mix the force majeure that is Trump and we had an explosive concoction that was always going to attract attention – the world loves to hate Trump and Trump loves to be hated by the world!

It started years before, with the pricing policy that was linked to demand. We had the doubters claim that ticket sales were poor but when the time came it appeared that the stadiums were magically full.

Nothing says Trump better than racism and so we had that thrown in with FIFA and Trump forcing Iran travel to and from the game back to Mexico each time. Racism is pretty normal in all organised sport, but this time it was Trump.

We then had the whole red card incident where Trump claimed to be a “good athlete” and felt that it was an incorrect decision that needed to be over-ruled – and it promptly was (possibly for the first time in history)! Nothing like a bit of Trumpian power play to get the plebs screeching like galahs.

Finally, the rules of soccer were changed to accommodate a grand show between halves that will totally Americanise the spectacle. Much to the absolute horror of the soccer aficionados! Probably a practice that will become standard in future world cup finals.

In Trumps world, it is the theatrics and spectacle that generates the money, not the boring sport where a bunch of morons run after a bouncing ball kicking each other and rolling around making impressions of agony.

As usual, there was a global uproar about the corruption and whilst many accepted that FIFA was always corrupt, what they protested mostly about was that Trump did it openly unlike the others. Suggesting that it was not the corruption that was a problem, but that Trump was exposing it to all!

In a free market system, why wouldn’t you exploit a situation whilst you could?!

The absolute spectacle.

The drama continues to the very last game – the finale between Spain and Argentina.

Spain, the nation that is the world’s European darling due to its steadfast standing against the genocide of Palestinians by jews and its continuous anti-Trump geo-political positions. Whilst a strong soccer nation, it was previously not seen as a key contender for the title.

Argentina, and their captain Messi – the enemy of the people. The current title holders and probably deserving to be in the final.

So, the stage is set with Trumps nemesis Spain challenging the all-white current holders of the title. The goodies vs the badies. The script could not have been written any better.

Much to the Trump hater’s dismay, this tournament will most likely be the most successful by every measure. Be it, financial (the only measure that matters to the political goons), spectator numbers, TV audiences, player skills and diversity and most of all, corruption.

Having said that, give it a month and all will have been forgotten as everyone scurries back to their daily grinds.

In the meanwhile, it will be several decades before the administration of soccer will move Southward or Eastward ensuring that soccer is truly a world game and that there is a level playing field even in the corruption that fuels the sport.

The commercialisation and degradation of soccer is complete and now for the Olympics in 2028 – will the IOC have the courage to act before Trump gets his grubby paws on it?