Is the Beautiful Game losing in Beauty?
Many credit Pelé for the expression – “The beautiful game”, while others attribute it to journalist Jimmy Catton, or to English commentator Stuart Hall. Nevertheless, no one knows with certainty. And in the same way, full of uncertainty, remains football’s (some other time beautiful) future [1].
It would be excessive, though, to say that football has no bright future left. After all, 265 million people play regularly [2], and from impoverished villages in Kenya to Tokyo’s major skyscrapers, many still dream of wearing the number 10 jersey, kick a ball, and watch their favorite players score. Where else can you watch Japanese and Brazilian fans clean whole stadiums together to the rhythm of samba? Where else can you find a coliseum above 2,000 metres packed with Mexicans rooting for South Korea, just for one night only? The whole world unitedly hollering a Cape Verdean’s name? Or witness thousands of Norwegians rowing to victory?
Regardless of socio-economic status or country of birth, football remains a common language around which everyone smiles. Remember 1914’s Christmas: Brits and Germans played football together for a day, only to resume firing – not free-kick –shots the very next. Football won over the cruelty of war, bringing them together for Christmas. [3]. Similarly, this year, a North Korean women’s team played a South Korean one in Suwon (South Korea) – athletes travelling to the South after seven years. It seems, for once, that things are going north [4].
So again, today’s unbeautifulness is not about the sport itself, but about some of the people shaping it. This actually seems also to be the case well beyond sport. Despite all the remarkable advances in science and technology, the world’s general trend seems to be following a bit of a grey direction. Maybe this is what happens when the most powerful man on the planet is someone who arrives one hour late to a G7 meeting and, very smirky, enters with an “I’m the boss” [5]. It would be incredibly entertaining if it was a Hollywood script or if the consequences were not so serious.
Football, it turns out, has a front-row seat to this particular show. A very good friend of Donald Trump is FIFA’s President Gianni Infantino. This year, FIFA, (International Federation of Association Football), has organised for the very first time its main competition, the World Cup, jointly in three different countries. And, since Gianni just enjoys doing “firsts”, he has also come up with the first 48 nations’ tournament (priorly 32) [6].
Last summer, in the US, FIFA had already tested the waters with the new Club World Cup, another virgin competition by Gianni. The club (no nations involved, but only football clubs) competition served as sort of a test for this year [7]. Gianni Infantino’s main challenge was to establish an amicable relationship with Donald Trump. Because, how do you make friends with the most powerful man in the world? Well, you give him the only thing he does not have. And, as Greenland was hard to wrap in gift paper, Gianni settled for a Peace Prize, another virgin one – FIFA’s very first Peace Prize.
The Peace Maker is now stealing all the spotlight. He already made quite an impression last year, lifting the trophy alongside Chelsea FC, the English team who won the Club World Cup. The tournament’s MVP, Cole Palmer, full of incredulity, muttered the words “what’s he doing” when seeing Trump stay on stage with them. And this summer, Trump has done it again, with FIFAhaving once again let the president be crowned on stage alongside Spain, the winning nation. “What are they doing?” – Palmer would probably think [8].
But before reaching the crown, or even starting to play, many nations have faced a far more challenging aspect: entering the country. Iran has been the clear casualty here, as they have needed to move their base from Arizona (US) to Tijuana (Mexico), despite playing all three initial – and only – games on American soil. The Administration ended up issuing visas for the players, but several staff members, including the head of Iran’s football federation, Mehdi Taj, were denied entry to the country. Government officials warned Iran not to “abuse this system to sneak terrorists” [9].
Neighboring Iraqi player, Ayman Hussein encountered the same problem: he was retained at the airport, and went through seven hours of questioning, with his team ultimately leaving in order to prepare for their first game against Venezuela [10].
The visa issue that has blown the whistle around the world involved the Somalian referee Oman Artan. Upon his arrival in Miami, US Customs and Border Protection flagged “vetting concerns”, and put the best referee in Africa on a flight back to Somalia – a nation on the US ban list. Artan received a hero’s welcome back in his country, and UEFA (Europe’s football organisation) – who is proving to handle things less Corleone-like than FIFA – had the savvy detail of appointing him as referee for the upcoming European Super Cup final [11].
Uzbekistan, Senegal, or Uruguay are other countries that faced thorough security and extensive paperwork by the Administration. The latter was held outside their bus with sniffer dogs inspecting their luggage, prompting frustrated reactions among the Uruguayan players. The sniffy canine patrol seemingly found kilos of suspicious green contraband. In the end – just tea leaves for mate [12].
And yet, despite all this kicking and tackling, very few seem to raise their voice to condemn it. Certainly FIFA has done all the contrary – not a single comment on the very disturbing US actions – much likeNATO behaved some months ago, when it did not condemn the American breach of international law when all of a sudden they bombarded Iran [13].
In fact, FIFA has contributed to the attempt to silence the masses. The first week’s press conferences saw players commanded not to reply in Spanish, per “translation issues”. Even with one of the hosts’ native languages being Spanish. International stars like Vini Jr, Achraf Hakimi or Frenkie de Jong were all left a bit confused after being asked not to reply in the language [14].
Unlike Spanish, pricing has been spoken of, a lot. The elevated cost of tickets has been in the scene since the ball started rolling. It does seem shocking that the cheapest resale tickets for the final game at MetLife stadium started at USD 7,500. While most games saw a full crowd, others did reveal many empty seats. According to FIFA’s statement, people were standing in the concourses – a very creative explanation. The pricing in stadiums also has a similar concern: USD 6 for a bottle and a beer for USD 19. The beautiful game has always been a game for all – these prices turn it into entertainment for the privileged [15].
While many fans had a hard time emptying their wallets to purchase water or beer during the games, the World Cup protagonists had plenty of beverage. This summer, the water break stole 3 minutes of each half time. Argentinian Diego Maradona, for many the best in history, already predicted this in 2018 – “They will divide the game into four halves instead of two to insert advertisements” [16]. A 30 second slot during the water break ranged from USD 200,000 to USD 750,000 depending on the match’s popularity, boosting revenue of American broadcasters like Fox Sports [17]. Is the water break purely a commercial strategy? Three minutes of gulping water does seem like an awful lot.
So does a 30 minute half-time break. The abysmally long time-out (27 minutes) – saw performances of Bieber, Shakira, BTS, Madonna, The Muppets (yes, the Muppets) and a few other international stars. The match’s length was originally of105 minutes (including the usual 15 minute break), this year the final lasted for more than 150 minutes. It seemed like a huge success: football turned into “soccer” and disguising Super Bowl style [18].
Another high moment for America was the President dialing FIFA for them to more carefully assess Folarin Balogun’s red card. The US striker saw the annulment of the one-match ban that forbade him from participating in the game against Belgium. No other exception of this type has ever taken place. And although Balogun’s return did nothing to prevent the US’s elimination in the round of 16 against Belgium, the ease with which Trump got away must concern anyone from football to politics [19].
Everything lately has a touch of Orwell’s imagination. It feels rather dystopian that the German and Swiss national teams faced venomous snakes in their base camps [20]. Or the most evident example is England. Indeed, what they had to put up with was not for the weak: a shooting near their Missouri training base that left people injured, a 6.1-magnitude earthquake during training in Florida, their equipment of balls, boots, and jerseys stolen, their chef not allowed to enter the country because of his cooking knives , and a tornado in Kansas City – England should be proud of simply surviving and reaching semi-finals despite this [21].
Playing their second ever World Cup, Haiti is another case to assess: only one of the 26 players actually lives in the country, the coach never visited the Caribbean island, and the team had to train in Curaçao instead [22]. The reason for this being the current security crisis in Haiti with violence and armed gangs part of daily life. 5.8 million Haitians (of a population of 12 million) are currently facing famine [23].
One just wonders: isn’t it absurd to play football at all right now? Many of the countries taking part are facing health and food crises, others not even participating are dealing with hateful massacres, and a global conflict initiated by the main tournament host is disrupting energy reserves and local prices around the world.
The US-Canada-Mexico World Cup illustrates global affairs quite well. Many (515 million speak Spanish as their mother tongue) are wanted to be silenced. No one raises its voice for others – let alone unfairly revoked visas. Prices are boiling up – from everyday household goods and real estate, to World Cup semifinal seats and a pint of beer at the stadium.
Big Brother’s control goes far beyond 1984 – seven-hour interrogations and sniffing dogs are present in 2026. We want to consume everything and more in the span of a half-time – fit Bieber, Madonna, BTS, Shakira, Burna Boy (and more) all squeezed in twelve minutes, forget enjoying things thoroughly. And the MAGA advocate has proven he has the power to intervene everywhere from Fed nominations and the value of crypto, to referee decisions in football.
But amid all these unspoken tensions, football has also shown its old latent beauty. The 39 year old Argentinian Captain proved there is plenty of space for magic, Cape Verdians and Congolese taught children anything is possible, and Norwegians reminded us of the joy of celebrating (and rowing) together. Different continents blended to dance and learn from others, neighbour countries supported each other after heart-breaking eliminations, and Spain reminded us that above all – champions are made by playing united.
Spain became 2026 World Champions after a single goal in extra time. Donald Trump lifted the trophy alongside the Spaniards, and he is, perhaps, the biggest winner of all. He keeps closing frontiers and weakening international collaboration while proving everyone that he can do as he pleases – “he’s the boss.” If governments, politicians, FIFA presidents, CEOs, journalists (and anyone really) don’t raise their voices, the world keeps turning a less beautiful place – and so does the beautiful game.
Edited by Maria Antonietta Fiocchi.
References
[1] Wikipedia contributors. (2026). The beautiful game. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_beautiful_game
[2] Fettle & Sports. (n.d.). Top 10 reasons why soccer (aka football) is the best sport. https://www.fettleandsports.com/blog-detail/top-10-reasons-why-soccer-aka-football-is-the-best-sport-137/
[3] Imperial War Museums. (n.d.). The Christmas Truce. https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/first-world-war/christmas-truce
[4] BBC Sport. (2026, June). [Article about football]. https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/cdxpz1p8nw4o
[5] Reuters. (2026, June 18). IMF boss says Trump G7 summit… https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/im-boss-says-trump-g7-summit-2026-06-18/
[6] FIFA. (n.d.). FIFA World Cup 26™. https://www.fifa.com/en/tournaments/mens/worldcup/canadamexicousa2026
[7] FIFA. (n.d.). FIFA Club World Cup 2025™. https://www.fifa.com/en/tournaments/mens/club-world-cup/usa-2025
[8] BBC Sport. (2026, June). [Article about football]. https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/cwye2g3wx5no
[9] Roeloffs, M. (2026, June 23). Iran can travel to US early for next World Cup match after slamming unfair treatment. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2026/06/23/iran-can-travel-to-us-early-for-next-world-cup-match-after-slamming-unfair-treatment/
[10] The Guardian. (2026, June 6). Iraq’s Aymen Hussein questioned over US entry before World Cup. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jun/06/iraq-aymen-hussein-questioned-us-entry-world-cup
[11] GOAL. (2026). FIFA, Somali referee Omar Artan, World Cup fee and United States. https://www.goal.com/en-om/lists/fifa-somali-referee-omar-artan-world-cup-fee-united-states/blt82926947cb844e79
[12] Sinar Daily. (2026). Uruguay’s World Cup arrival goes viral after sniffer dogs inspect team luggage. https://www.sinardaily.my/article/737041/focus/sports/uruguays-world-cup-arrival-goes-viral-after-sniffer-dogs-inspect-team-luggage
[13] NATO Watch. (2026). How has NATO responded to the US-Israeli war on Iran?https://natowatch.org/default/2026/how-has-nato-responded-us-israeli-war-iran
[14] Mundo Deportivo. (2026, June 15). FIFA reverses course and ends Spanish-language press conference controversy. https://www.mundodeportivo.com/en/20260615/1004195355/fifa-reverses-course-and-ends-spanish-language-press-conference-controversy.html
[15] Reuters. (2026, July 18). If you bill it, they will come: FIFA wins battle for fans’ wallets with pricey World Cup. https://www.reuters.com/sports/soccer/if-you-bill-it-they-will-come-fifa-wins-battle-fans-wallets-pricey-world-cup-2026-07-18/
[16] Views Bangladesh. (2026). Maradona predicted the 2026 World Cup 8 years ago. https://viewsbangladesh.com/maradona-predicted-the-2026-world-cup-8-years-ago/
[17] BBC Sport. (2026, July). [Article about football]. https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/cp3xqn9zxdgo
[18] BBC News. (2026, July). [News article]. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyxjl0wkl7o
[19] The New York Times. (2026, July 5). Trump, FIFA and Balogun at the World Cup. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/05/us/politics/trump-fifa-balogun-world-cup.html
[20] BBC Sport. (2026, July). [Article about football]. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c2lyzdwjwgwo
[21] The Indian Express. (2026). England, FIFA World Cup, theft, thunderstorm, mass shooting in Kansas City. https://indianexpress.com/article/sports/football/england-fifa-world-cup-theft-thunderstorm-mass-shooting-kansas-city-10740304/
[22] BBC Sport. (2026, July). [Article about football]. https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/cwy70v7grl4o
[23] United Nations. (2026, May). World News in Brief. UN News. https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/05/1167559
[Cover Picture] Pexels. (2026). Un supporter célèbre avec un trophée lors d’un événement de football [Photograph]. https://www.pexels.com/fr-fr/photo/un-supporter-celebre-avec-un-trophee-lors-d-un-evenement-de-football-38381653/
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