In 2023, Indonesia were stripped of the under-20 World Cup for refusing to allow the Israeli team entry.
Fifa's justification then was the vague "due to the current circumstances".
Quite a contrast to the hardline "FIFA is not involved in host immigration processes" now.
Qatar at NO point banned gays from entering their country.
They just said, public display of affection between anyone including straight people was frowned upon.
The US is systematically targeting anyone that isn't white.
Not a single peep from those anti-Qatar activist 👍
FIFA has punished countries before for not granting visas but since Infantino is Trump’s pet, now they’re pretending to be powerless as this administration makes a mockery of the tournament
Hasan Piker: “If the Knicks lose tonight it’s literally because of Donald Trump. There’s no other reason for this to take place. New York as a city is so goddamn up right now. Donald Trump’s coming in to fucking deliver the worst kind of juju”
S. Africa, Brazil and Qatar were all painted a certain way and had their own issues but at no point were they actively stopping players, teams, referee and fans from participating in the biggest sporting event, 3 days before it starts. America gotta be the worst hosts ever
The biggest sporting event on Earth is coming to the United States for the first time in 32 years. It is being held during America's 250th birthday year. Messi, Mbappé, Ronaldo, Salah are all playing. An estimated 1.4 billion people watched at least part of the 2022 final.
54 percent of Americans surveyed last week said they were not at all interested.
Ticket demand has slumped. Hotels are half-empty. The cheapest seat on StubHub for the World Cup final at MetLife is $8,000. The most expensive is more than $84,000. New York's mayor had to negotiate a special allotment of $50 tickets so city residents could attend earlier games after noting that ordinary fans would have to mortgage their house to afford the tournament they live next to.
FIFA gave Trump the Peace Prize - an award invented specifically for him because he'd been complaining he hadn't received the Nobel - and Trump celebrated by commissioning a military operation in Venezuela and starting a war in Iran. He grabbed the FIFA Club World Cup trophy and displayed it in the Oval Office. He posted about annexing Canada less than two weeks before the tournament that Canada is co-hosting begins.
Fans are anxious about ICE raids outside stadiums. Security officials are warning about terror attack risks. Visitors from Congo face Ebola travel anxiety. Some international fans are barred by travel bans. Iran is moving its training camp from Arizona to Mexico.
The game itself will probably still be transcendent. Messi will still be Messi. The final will still matter in the way only the World Cup final can. But the country hosting it has made it very hard to feel good about the approach. The tournament arrived. The welcome did not.