Soccer World Cup: Fifa favors Lionel Messi and other superstars

Messi’s record-breaking feat was the biggest story of the early stages and the core of the tournament’s emotional world. At the same time, they also raised unpleasant questions.

How did Argentina get such an easy group? How did Argentina get another penalty kick? Why wasn’t Messi removed from the field? How can the graduate program in Argentina be so easy?

And why not deny it. The international football association Fifa favors Messi in many ways.

And it’s not just about these World Cups.

Last summer Fifa organized a World Cup tournament of 32 club teams. Participants had to meet specific criteria to be included. However, there was one exception: Inter Miami, represented by Messi, was practically invited to the games.

Fifa had to sell a new billion-dollar club team tournament in the United States and did not want to leave Messi out of the tournament.

In the end, Inter Miami just didn’t make it to the games. The team opened the tournament in their hometown. Messi wasn’t just there. He was the face of the tournament.

in the World Cup the situation is both completely different and strongly similar. Argentina has acquired its competition place by playing, but like last summer, the arena was built for Messi.

Argentina got a favorable group and a favorable extension program, and it was not a pure coincidence.

In fact, chance has been far away in World Cup draws for a long time. The teams have been sorted into different baskets for a long time, but this time we went even further than before.

The four early favorites (Argentina, France, Spain and England) were deliberately placed on different sides of the chart. When everyone wins their group as planned, they can face each other in the semifinals at the earliest.

Referees too favor Messi. However, this does not mean that they were forbidden to whistle against Messi or that they were bribed.

It’s about two things. The rules of football have been modified over the past 30 years or so to protect skilled players. Messi, if anyone, is the epitome of a skill player.

During the early stages, it was also noticed that Messi is protected even when he violates the opponent. The mega star stepped on the opponent’s calf before the buttons, but got away with it without warning. A more anonymous player could have been sent off the field for the same foul, especially if the target of the foul had been Messi.

Fifa’s reasons for favoring Messi are not morally pure, but commercially their logic is difficult to deny.

Fifa, TV channels and tournament sponsors benefit enormously from Messi. His final tango is commercially the best story of the tournament.

That’s why the entire football machinery wants to keep Messi around as long as possible.

That’s the point however one but. Fifa also prefers Kylian Mbappéa, Lamina Yamalia and Harry Kane. They benefit from the same structures, rules and, in general, refereeing as well.

Modern elite football is built to favor superstars. In fact, the word modern can be left out. This is how football has worked for ages.

In 1968 the legendary Pelen club team Santos played a friendly match in Colombia against the country’s Olympic team. Pelé’s protest in the middle of the game went too far in the referee’s opinion, and he removed the brass star from the field.

Spectators went berserk. They had bought a ticket to see Pelé. A riot started in the stands, to end the match the referee was changed and Pelé was called back to the field.

George Orwell was right when he wrote: “All are equal, but some are more equal than others.”