Got that reference!
Last three countries are: Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi. It's as if we're not even trying and just condoning the way human rights are treated.
Sounds strange to me, given their history. Sure, they are engaged in banking, but also not in invading other countries, unlike most of the rest of the world. In either case, nationalistic stereotypes are seldom helpful for any debate.
Then there is the "banking privacy" nonsense, which is just because they want to avoid disclosing the tax evasion and money laundering.
And the crypto nonsense in Zug.
It really goes on and on.
Way to normalize mass surveillance.
The simple fact, that Qatar bothered to buy the whole thing shows, that it is important.
It's interesting, growing up, I had friends with a hobby for supporting particular footbal teams in my city. And of course rival team supporters couldn't really be friends, to the point of full out violence between rivals being an every day thing. I always asked them why is that, because except for the color of their scarf they fit the exact same personality pattern - they all would explain it from a mythological history of tribalism point of view that did not make much sense to me at the time.
Fifa also has rules preventing this. You cannot switch national teams, once you played for one.
It is actually the other way round: After the poor performances in the early 2000s, German clubs have agreed on a few rules regarding how many foreign players are allowed to play on each team and what each club has to do to train new young players. The richer clubs basically restricted what their own money could buy. These regulations are widely regarded as the reason for the dominant years during the 2010s.
- 2018: France
- 2014: Germany
- 2010: Spain
- 2006: Italy
The issue is that they often also have the same corrupt officials who gain legitimacy through this tournament, they wouldn’t risk losing their status. Imagine they decide to have an alternative tournament, then FIFA owning many rights puts pressure on them, one draws back and the operation fails. Explain that to the fans.