A Mongolian proverb says: “Even when they sleep on the same pillow, husband and wife dream different dreams.” Of course, no one, absolutely no one, thinks that the 2026 FIFA World Cup is only a sporting event, but that there is also another side of the pillow, because while we all watch and enjoy football that has never been better, more attractive, full of magic and adrenaline, before the eyes of the whole world what is actually taking place is a gigantic, ultra-luxurious and excessively expensive wedding of the century.
In this marriage of convenience, the bride is football (FIFA), bringing as her dowry the FIFA World Cup brand worth 5.2 billion euros. The groom is politics (the USA, Canada, Mexico), which provides infrastructure, stadiums, laws and security. The prenuptial agreement is, of course, being ironed out at the eleventh hour. FIFA demands absolute control over the cash register, while politics seeks and finds justification for spending taxpayers’ money, confident that the FIFA World Cup will help its rating rise before the bills arrive at the end.
To make the wedding as successful as possible, the “guest list” has been expanded to as many as 48 teams, solely so that more distant relatives can bring envelopes. The first rows in the hall have been reserved by major corporations and sponsors, while the real creators of the atmosphere are all around them. Of course, there are also the “unwanted guests”, fans and national teams who, because of strict visas and political barriers, barely manage to cross the threshold of this luxurious party.
While behind the scenes of this wedding the partners are pulling each other over the rights from the prenuptial agreement, those for whom weddings are actually made step onto the scene, the fans.
At this global wedding, the fans are the real guests who have come only to have a good time. They are not interested in the seating arrangement at the main table. Fans do not look at the prenuptial agreement, nor are they interested in the fact that the newlyweds are already on the longest and most expensive world cruise in history, extending the tour to 2030 and 2034. When the music plays (while the ball rolls), the fans are the only sincere elements of this “mega event”.
Football and politics have been in a secret and lasting relationship from the very beginning. They argue in public, cheat in secret, but they will never divorce. There is too much power at stake for anyone ever to sign the divorce papers. And there is no need to fear that football will deflate, run out of air, because football and politics are in a mutually dependent relationship. Football will not atrophy because of the influence of politics for at least two reasons. Football itself seeks an external equivalent. Its internal structure is strong enough not to crack so easily under a careless political sole. Football has also grown so much that the playing field has long since become too tight a terrain for it. It goes without saying that modern politicians have no interest in putting the pressure of short-term interests on an economic activity that employs a large number of people, occupies the masses, brings profit and fills the state budget.
Football is a state, not for itself, but for the whole world!
