@AlexCulclough@Uchechukwu29 Maybe this wouldn't happen if your ancestors had stayed in their own land, rather than sailing to seas to enslave, colonize, destabilise and pillage African and Asian countries for their resources. "Eradicating Europe", the way your people eradicated cultures across the world?
@KippaxWill@HonestUnited99@pitchIntell@David_Ornstein@TheAthleticFC Pretty sure we paid in total, close to but under 90. Pogba is still our record signing and it total it was about 90 million in pounds, so how can Lukaku have been 110? Lmao, smh. You misquoting the price, or quoting probably the price in Euros, is proving OP's exact point.
When Russia hosted the World Cup in 2018, it had to suspend normal visa rules for the tournament. Foreigners with tickets could enter visa-free, using a scheme called ‘Fan ID.’
Russia also had to do weird stuff to keep FIFA’s sponsors happy. For example, small shops near Fan Zones and stadiums could only sell Budweiser beer on match days.
So yes, FIFA absolutely does dictate conditions to host governments when it suits FIFA. Infantino pretending otherwise is nonsense.
@MarwanAlAmoodi@StretfordPaddck Rio Ferdinand who played in those teams very much disagrees with you. You're telling me this prime Bruno is not at least on par or better than Owen Hargreaves or the late era Scholes?
Please, my man, please lmao.
Michael Carrick wrote about this experience in his book, ‘Between the Lines’. It wasn't a nice narration.
He wrote about how difficult a footballer’s life is and how that trip wasn't convenient for many of them.
His description of Nigeria and Abuja in that book was scathing.
He wrote about some Policemen breaking a photographer’s camera and beating him for taking a picture of them. He said he yelled after them.
“They grabbed him, jabbed him
in the ribs and dragged him round the back of the hotel. ‘Whoa, what’s up?
It’s only a picture. We never saw him again. It was all a bit over the top,” he wrote.
In another paragraph, his words were;
“the whole experience in Abuja was like being trapped in a horror film”.
Read his conclusion;
“The trip lasted only 16 hours, but Abuja’s effects lasted longer. I vomited
for a week, but some lads had it far worse. They were so sick that United
sent a sample off to some university and, I’m not kidding, they found
monkey and rat shit in the sample. The university docs said they’d never
seen anything like it before. So, no, I won’t remember Abuja happily and I
can’t imagine the other lads will either. Those are the type of souvenirs you
don’t want to bring back from tours abroad.”
It was the last time any big team was in Nigeria. Eighteen years ago.
We will learn one way or the other.
My name is Rilwan, I love and write about football systems, memories and the depths behind the game. Follow me and repost if you want more of this.
@AkuSokuZan23@FootballTalkHQ No he didn't. He said he "should have", but he didn't, and he believes that's why they lost that final. Get your facts right