Why you aren't watching the world cup

[jian]

Well on the one hand, fans who were fans before will remember it for the games, people who don't like FIFA or Trump will remember it for the controversy.

Yeah, sadly I think the latter is what will put it in the history books.

 

[gnarlygninja]

I don't see why those two categories are being presented as mutually exclusive.

 

[Clint_L]

Well on the one hand, fans who were fans before will remember it for the games, people who don't like FIFA or Trump will remember it for the controversy.

I'm not a big soccer fan (or sports fan in general) but my friends who are, including my school's soccer coach, are VERY angry about the controversy. I would say way more than non-fans. It's almost like they deeply care about the game and its values.

 

[Okland]

Tournaments like this one bring together fans from wildly different footballing cultures, all watching the same ball for a month straight. What unites them increasingly is a shared appetite for numbers, not just narratives. Expected goals, player ratings, form trends, these are now part of everyday matchday conversation among supporters worldwide. A hub like https://totalover.com/ supports that appetite, tracking football data across more than 2,000 competitions with consistent depth from league to league. A standout individual performance rated near 8.7 out of 10 for a single match tells you instantly which player dictated the game. Data has become its own universal football language, spoken fluently by fans everywhere regardless of which team they support.

The tournament can also be remembered for amazing performance of a player. Like WC 86 for what Maradona was doing then. Or Messi is doing during the current WC.

 

[abazaba]

The tournament can also be remembered for amazing performance of a player. Like WC 86 for what Maradona was doing then. Or Messi is doing during the current WC.

You mean "The Hand of God" ?

 

[sevenbastard]

Do people actually care about the third place game?

 

[Old Fezziwig]

Do people actually care about the third place game?

I imagine the FA and FFF might care -- there's some prize money that could be used for infrastructure and program development. I suppose players would rather win it than not if they must play it (though I suspect that they'd rather not if they didn't have to). It's only a rung above a friendly, kind of like the English Community Shield. As an observer, I'm not bothered -- the Community Shield is interesting to me because it's a semi-competitive match at the beginning of the season, and it's all to play for (it's like a little party to kick off the season), but this is a mandatory coda to a disappointing run where winning doesn't markedly make you feel better about having lost a semi-final and losing is salt in the wound.

EtA: here's the breakdown of prize money -- this is basically a dead rubber for these two countries, $2m isn't going to matter to the FA or FFF.

• Champion: $50 million
• Runner-up: $33 million
• Third place: $29 million
• Fourth place: $27 million
• Fifth through eighth place: $19 million
• Ninth through 16th place: $15 million
• 17th through 32nd place: $11 million
• 33rd through 48th place: $9 million

 

[Morrus]

I'm petty sure the England players give their fees to charity. Dunno if that applies to prize money.

 

[Old Fezziwig]

I'm petty sure the England players give their fees to charity. Dunno if that applies to prize money.

Yeah, it looks like they give their match fees to charity, and half the prize goes to the FA, with the rest paid out as bonuses. No idea if they donate those. I kind of expect not.

 

[sevenbastard]

Yeah, it looks like they give their match fees to charity, and half the prize goes to the FA, with the rest paid out as bonuses. No idea if they donate those. I kind of expect not.

Do they use any as kickbacks to the refs.....