At this rate, FIFA is determined to make entertainment longer than the match itself.
They have introduced hydration breaks (aka Ads) in this world cup, which is totally new in football. Now this, and probably they will add later other stuff as well to maximize the profits.
I think at this point, especially after the Red Card scandal involving Infantino and Trump, it should be clear to everyone that all this is one gigantic sham. Nothing really to do with âsportsâ anymore.
At least they are not going to pull off nonsense like these in the more ânormalâ competitions.
The world cup might be a âlight entertainmentâ competition with very expensive tickets, but football is not really an elitist sport. Let them put clowns at half-time if they like, the people that love football will keep playing it as it was meant to be played.
I liked the ending of âInternational SuperStar Soccer Pro 1998â⊠at the end of the credits the screen turned back and a prompt wrote a quote by the gameâs director:
And it is true.
Who cares about FIFA?
3 days and peace for the next 4 years.
There are other big competitions in-between, like Euro 2028.
Copa America also. These two competitions are by far the biggest international football competitions, given the ranking of the teams participating in them.
Wholeheartedly agree with everything you wrote, except when you called Shakira a clown 
I didnât call anyone in particular a clown. I wrote that they can hire clowns for the half-time for all I care. They can show a movie, they could even turn off the lights and make a drone-show with lights or have the FIFA president go on stage and quote Charlie Sheen (âI already got your money dudeâ) and taunt the audience.
I do not care since it doesnât really affect football itself, as a game.
If the fans put up with that nonsense and want to watch and pay for it, thatâs their right to do so.
In professional sports there is no need for protests. You vote with your wallet and your participation. If people endorse these changes with their tickets, it is what it is. In a way their choice already contains their punishment, so I am fine with that 
But I see less people interested in these as in the Mondial.
Is there anything that is not about the money?
There is a difference between âmaximizing profitâ and âgetting enough money to maximize enjoymentâ.
World cup.
European cup.
It checks out. 
WinRar. 
The ads are new (to me), the breaks arenât.
Cooling breaks
Due to the relatively high ambient temperatures in Brazil, particularly at the northern venues, cooling breaks for the players were introduced
Happy to see inmates enjoying life too! 
NYC mayor Mamdani arrived shortly before the kickoff to watch the match 
The most expensive resale ticket for the final is listed at $2m (ÂŁ1.52m), plus a Fifa fee of $300,000 (ÂŁ228,000).
Plenty of things are not about money. Just football ainât one of them.
Yeah, this list of prices is quite frankly disgusting.
Iâd rather buy myself top-end bicycle, or a second-hand car. I could travel to quite a few places with my soon-to-be wife instead of making Infantinoâs pockets even deeper.
I sent some âhappy fourth of Julyâ emails to some friends in the USA and I knew that one of them lives in Florida and is a football fan since he usually goes to watch Inter Miami and Messi along with his son and posts photos on FB.
I assumed that heâd be in the thick of it watching as many games as possible, so I kind of asked about it and he said something along the lines of âI only managed to watch one game, because a friend had some connections with the organisers and got us two last-minute ticketsâ and I didnât realise what he meant, but I didnât really give it too much thought.
After seeing that chart, now I realise what he really meant. 
Two real tickets would have costed him almost a couple of months worth of salaries. Wow!
How did the people from other countries even afford to pay such tickets, if they were too expensive even for the Americans? 
The prices I posted are tickets for the final. Tickets for early stages are less expensive, typically a few hundred USD.
A few hundred USD. Thatâs not what I call cheap either. There is worse as these money things. There is dishonor for teams who canât stay on the US soil and have to go outside to sleep or supporters who canât even get a visa because of being from a country that USA donât like. Shame on this!
