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≡ FIFA WORLD CUP ≡
FIFA President Gianni Infantino (SUI) waved off criticisms over the federation’s predatory pricing strategies for the 2026 World Cup at a news conference on Wednesday:
● “Our average price which is below $500, is again the lowest of the American sports on average [on the resale market]. If we take the playoffs, I think we can at least compare the playoffs of an American sport with the World Cup.
“If you look at the final of the NBA, the Knicks against San Antonio, I don’t know how many people are watching that on TV, 10 million maybe, I don’t know. The World Cup will be watched by six billion people. So, in terms of importance, the World Cup is much, much more important.
“The fact that when we put these tickets on sale, they go on the secondary market which is absolutely legal here and they are sold for a much higher price. This certainly shows that the prices were accurate in terms of the way they have been determined.”
● “The market is here what it is, that if you sell it at a lower price point – and again this has been part of intense and extensive analysis – in this particular market.. It would have gone, which is perfectly legal in this country, in secondary markets at much, much, much higher prices.
“And where would the money go then? Well, to those who organize secondary market or black market activities and not to football. So every dollar that comes in goes back into the development of football. We have one competition every four years that generates revenues. The 47 other months out of the 48 of four years we are investing this revenue in the growth of the game. Nobody else is doing that. Nobody. Nobody.
“This allows us to maintain as well free TV. I said we could put everything on pay. We would generate $30 billion in revenues probably. But then you have billions of people in the world who would not be able to watch the World Cup. So the soul and the heart is the fans in the stadiums. It’s the fans in the fan zones. It’s the fans at home. It’s every football fan. We want to bring the World Cup to every football fan.”
● “When it comes to these legal investigations or complaints that were made in some states in the U.S., we are very relaxed about it because before starting to sell six-and-a-half or seven million tickets we check what we do with the best lawyers, with the best experts. If we do something wrong, then probably everyone selling tickets in North America is doing something wrong, as well.
“We welcome every investigation. We are happy to present everything, and we are happy to make our case.”
Infantino also offered little argument about the denial of entry into the U.S. of Somali referee Omar Artan:
“We don’t control everything. We try. We’ll discuss, we will speak, we’ll see. Maybe sometimes it’s good as well to just chill, relax.
“We try to solve everything. Sometimes to immediately start screaming and shouting has the opposite effect of finding a solution. Believe me when I tell you, or don’t believe me if you don’t want, but we try always to find solutions, always. But then we need to respect that we are not the kings of the world who can rule over governments and police forces.
“Our world is a very aggressive world and security goes above everything and you need to respect the decisions which are taken. We are working behind the scenes.”
Artan, barred from the World Cup, will referee the 2026 UEFA Super Cup between Paris St.-Germain and Aston Villa FC.
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The opening match in Mexico City were as expected, with Mexico winning over South Africa before 80,824 in a Group A game marred by three red cards, two for South Africa in the 49th minute (midfielder Sphepheto Sithole) and 84th (midfielder Themba Zwane).
Mexico went up 1-0 on a strike from the left of goal from forward Julian Quinones in the ninth minute, following a bad South African clearance and a feed from midfielder Eric Lira. Although the pressure was constantly on the South African goal, keeper Ronwen Williams was solid. Mexico finished the half with 57% possession and a 10-2 shots edge.
It got a lot worse in the second half as Sithole’s red card left South Africa with 10 players and forward Raul Jimenez scored on a header off a pass from forward Roberto Alvarado in the 67th for the 2-0 edge.
Mexico kept pressing, but did not score again, despite South Africa playing with nine after the 84th following a second red card for a harsh tackle by Zwane. But a rough slap by defender Cesar Montes at 90+2 left the home team playing with 10 as the game ended. The Mexicans ended with 60% possession and a 16-3 shots advantage.
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South Korea plays the Czech Republic in the other Group A game on Thursday, in Guadalajara (MEX) at 7 p.m. local time. This post will be updated with the results.
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