Article by Ovidiu Ioanițoaia – Published Thursday, June 11, 2026, 4:38 p.m. / Updated Thursday, June 11, 2026, 4:40 p.m.
When the match Mexico – South Africa is ready to open the 23rd edition of the World Cup in football, the first with 48 participants, as if the media attacks on FIFA and its president, the Swiss-Italian Gianni Infantino, are intensifying.
Who are accused of being followers of globalization, if not obsessed, for stretching the rope too hard when they decided that the World Cup should take place in 3 countries, true, all on the same continent, but not only that. But also to increase the number of matches to 104 (compared to 64 in the last 7 previous editions) and last 39 days. In comparison, the standard duration of the Summer Olympics is 17 days.
And the madness, excuse the expression!, will continue. Because WC 2030 will be held in Spain, Portugal and Morocco, that is in Europe and in Africa, but the inaugural meetings will be hosted by Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina, so in South America! A program that is difficult to understand, even impossible, which will record an absolute first: all 6 national teams of the listed countries will qualify automatically!
Why are Infantino and his people still blamed, or at least suspected? Because, eager to get as many votes as possible from areas where football is less developed, they omitted the otherwise very important detail, that players from Europe, if not from South America, come to the WC after an extremely busy season at the clubs.
The record in the matter belongs to those from Arsenal with 63 games, followed by the members of Barcelona (57), PSG (56), Inter Milan (54) etc. Where does the question come from, one without an answer, if they played so much, why do they have to play a lot more in the WC?! Because the semi-finalists will be forced to play 8 matches in America, to pass or at least approach the number 70 in a single season, as if they were machines, not people!
Hence, the revolt of FIFPRO (Professional Footballers' Union), as well as of some coaches, led by Guardiola and Klopp, is legitimate. Who publicly disavowed FIFA's attitude, accusing the world forum of “indecency” and “illegal practices”.
Gianni Infantino, FIFA president // PHOTO: Ionuț Iordache (GSP)
At the same time, the Zürich “government” was criticized for facilitating the path to qualification for representatives from Oceania, Central America – the Caribbean and even from Asia at the expense of those from Europe or South America. As such, absent from the current final tournament are, among others, Italy, Denmark and Greece, Chile and, from Africa, Nigeria, nationals with record.
Instead, Haiti and Panama, Uzbekistan and New Zealand are present, obviously also Curaçao, a country in the Netherlands Antilles whose population does not exceed that of the Bucharest neighborhood of Balta Albă! Come on, what do the preliminaries mean and what's their value if you find yourself at the number 1 football competition, supposed to be the elite, the cream of the crop, with an anonymous team like Curaçao?!
Feeling targeted, even cornered, Infantino didn't sit idly by either. He agitated, searched and found solutions, read sponsors!, in such a way that he silenced the critics with money. He managed to secure a more consistent budget than ever before. Downright huge, pharaonic. Compared to Qatar 2022, when the WC was allocated 440 million dollars, the amount has almost doubled this year, reaching 871 million. Of which 650 will be directed to participants based on performance.
No one will leave the World Cup empty-handed! In the idea that the future champion will collect 50 million, but also the last national team, which will not score a single point in the group, will still receive 9 million!
When it comes to a lot of money, it's as if the principles start to waver, what do you say, am I wrong?
