Cross posing from the USMNT forum: FIFA is selling a Timothy Weah NFT for $500 which includes “a right to buy two tickets for the USA opening match during the FIFA World Cup 26™” Only 100 available https://collect.fifa.com/drops/first-timers-glory 1. You'll get the priority access to buy tickets.2. The process to redeem the priority access will be communicated once ticket sales are announced by FIFA ticketing.3. There will be different seats categories, available at different prices.— FIFA Collect (@FIFAPlusCollect) May 26, 2024
Yeah, its going to be an expensive World Cup. I'm still not clear what this offer includes. A recording of 2022 WC match? A YouTube highlight? What's the "iconic collectible". I don't get it. Could be a $500 paper weight for all I know.
Poor facilities cost African teams home advantage in World Cup qualifiers By Mark Gleeson CAPE TOWN, June 2 (Reuters) - Nearly half of the African countries hosting World Cup qualifiers over the next week are being forced to host their matches in neutral venues as the Confederation of African Football continues to clamp down on poor facilities. Some 17 of the 43 countries who have a home game scheduled in qualification for the 2026 World Cup between Wednesday and next Tuesday are barred from using their own stadia because they are not up to standard. The list includes Kenya, who are one of the three countries designated to co-host the Africa Cup of Nations finals in 2027, and Benin, whose stadium in Cotonou is in disrepair less than two years after a major renovation. CAF have taken a firm line on tardy facilities over the last two years in an effort to force countries to improve pitch conditions and other facilities like changing rooms and stadium lights. While it spurred some into action and led to stadium renovations, other countries have moved slowly, or not at all, and with it lost home advantage for competitive qualifiers. "We have to get all stakeholders within the government, the private sector, everybody involved, everybody that says they've got soccer in their heart, because there is no way you're going to qualify for the World Cup playing 10 matches away. It's not possible until we fix the stadiums," said Namibia coach Collin Benjamin. Namibia are being forced to play home games against Liberia on Wednesday and Tunisia on Sunday in neighbouring South Africa. They last played a match in the capital Windhoek in March, 2021. Morocco offer help for many of the ‘homeless’ countries, as part of a charm offensive across the continent using football co-operation agreements. On top of their own World Cup qualifier against Zambia in Agadir on Friday, a further eight will be hosted over the next week in the north African kingdom. South Africa is also a preferred destination for countries needing a venue but stadium operators charge a fee to the football associations, cutting into already tight budgets. Benin, Congo and Madagascar are the latest countries to be banned from using home venues but South Sudan will end a lengthy exile as they play at home at a newly built stadium in Juba in their Group B derby with neighbours Sudan next week. https://www.reuters.com/sports/socc...me-advantage-world-cup-qualifiers-2024-06-02/
That's right, put those feds on blast for not taking care of business. No one needs them qualifying to WC if they won't take care of their own.
Oh, that's gonna be tasty I presume beIn Sports still has the rights to CAF tournaments here in the US?
it's NFT (a non-fungible token), so it doesn't include anything real. in other words you pay money for virtual thing that actually doesn't exist, and if you find someone stupid enough to buy it off of you you are allowed to sell it. the whole thing stinks to high heaven. giving USA the world cup was awful decission. it is going to change landscape of theworld cup to the worst. until the next great one such as saudi arabia!
oh the nft is worthless. I would basically try and dump it ASAP. the two tickets to the US opener were the interesting part. If they gave more info, I would have seriously considered it. like, is it hospitality tickets or standard cat 1/2/3?? that USA opener is likely to cost a premium for whatever preshow it has as well. but if it was a Cat 3 ticket, $250 each markup would be something worth considering.
Yes. I saw some matches already, like Oceania Champions League and FIFA Series in March. I am annoyed with commercials before I get to see the game. Two long commercials without option to cut in like on YouTube.
i checked today. While i see the OFC matches and the former CAF Qualifiers, i do not see the upcomming CAF qualifiers. Can it be, that it is restricted for specific countries?
Its a bit of a shame because I was just looking ahead to the CAF qualifying matches taking place over the next 3 days and it seems like in most groups the 2 best teams (on paper at least) are playing each other. So, lots of good matchups but will be a tough watch in front of hardly any fans and zero atmosphere (watching a full game with beIN commentators is tough in the best of times). Speaking of tasty, group C is very much that. What I would think are the 2 favorites - Nigeria and South Africa - have already dropped 4 and 3 points, respectively, before playing each other. Group "I" also stands out as an interesting one. But I must also say that its quite stupid to be playing these highly important qualifying games more than 2 years out from the World Cup itself. Some of their under 20 players will have grey hair by the time the WC kicks off. And I know C'Bol begins their qualifiers early too but if you have a poor couple of matches at the start of those qualifiers its not gonna kill your WC hopes. And in CAF's case, starting the qualifiers later while keeping the same format is completely doable.
This is really badly written but it appears they're not on FIFA+ everywhere. "FIFA+ will stream all Matchday 1 African qualifiers with English commentary globally, excluding the MENA region, with select markets in sub-Saharan Africa, India and Portugal. Sub-Saharan African countries such as Benin, Burundi, Ethiopia, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Malawi, Sao Tome e Principe, Seychelles, Uganda and Zimbabwe will have access to CAF games on FIFA+."
Could be geo restricted. The matches are showing up for me in Canada. You can fix it with a VPN subscription. You can get one for about $10 a month and then cancel.
Yeah they are sandwiching in afcon 2025 qualifying in the middle of WCQ, which is stupid IMO. They should have just done the afcon qualifying first and then moved on to WCQ. Although I think things will remain pretty stable over the next 2 years in terms of the quality of the teams. I dont see any major improvements or degrading of teams in that period.
Yeah it's a very key matchday #3 as it will be the #1 seed at home vs #2 seed. It could literally be a deciding factor in certain cases. The most interesting and key matchups IMO are one as you identified Nigeria v South Africa. Both teams dropped points in the first 2 matches and are behind Rwanda ATM, but I feel this is a make or break for Nigeria. A win is a must or it may honestly be over. South Africa will want to avenge their semifinal afcon knockout to Nigeria on penalties. And two Mali vs Ghana Again as with the other group, both teams are behind surprise leader, this time in Comoros, but I am certain one of these 2 will ultimately prevail and this match may have a major say in what happens.
From the US: FIFA+ is showing the qualifiers in CAF and the AFC; as for Concacaf, the games that haven't gone to PPV (i.e. the ones involving Honduras and El Salvador) are being shown live on Concacaf's own YouTube channel.
I don't know if it was mentioned - EQG icon Emiliano Nsue was banned for six months and both 1-0 EQG WCQ wins, both courtesy of Nsue goals, were awarded for their opponents. Reason - he should not have played for EQG. Ever. Apparently he played an official game for youth Spanish team. FIFA learned this after 11 years. Pathethic. They lost 1-0 at Tunisia today (late penalty) and are out of WC contention.
That doesn't make sense. If he played for a Spanish youth team, that would mean he was under 21 which makes him legitimate no ? What am I missing ?
Apparently his attempt to switch years ago was knocked back under the rules at the time. Not sure if he would be eligible to switch under the current rules but it seems he never re applied so he was ineligible to play. The rules for switching allegiance have gradually weakened over the years.
There are only 3 AFC games that show up for me. Vietnam v Phillipines India v Kuwait Saudi Arabia v Pakistan Is that the same with everyone else ?
FIFA said no. You can read the full report. https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:VA6C2:30b2a290-daa9-479f-8876-01d42022f35e