I don’t follow these things closely, so I mean this as a serious question - what are UEFA and CONMEBOL’s points of contention with FIFA?
I suspect that after relations improved between FIFA and UEFA recently they've been compromised again by being taken by suprise at the March FIFA Council meeting when Conmebol proposed 64 teams for the 2030 WC which they knew nothing about until it was raised at the meeting. UEFA also opposed the expanded Club WC, but the other five confederations wanted it, so ultimately this wasn't too much of an issue for UEFA because they said they don't believe it will compete with their club competitions. I think this walkout was prompted by the FIFA-Conmebol 64-team WC proposal which UEFA hadn't been consulted about.
I can see why it’s in UEFA’s interest to keep all global tournaments more exclusive. They have the highest concentration of strong teams (or all of them, in the club game). Keeping their most powerful constituent confederation happy will obviously always need to be a priority for FIFA. I don’t really understand UEFA’s issue with the Club World Cup. Can’t the UEFA clubs just send a full reserve roster or decline the invitation, if they don’t want to participate? And the expanded 64 team World Cup doesn’t add any time or additional matches (for each team) compared to the 48 team format. The big UEFA teams will still come out on top in the end, no matter the format. Obviously there needs to be some limit to keep the tournament and qualification special. But UEFA’s objections reek of exclusivism to me.
Conmebol's proposal to expand to 64 WC teams targets a tournament already heavily-organized by UEFA: 2030 WC. Perhaps Conmebol wants a bigger 2030 WC revenue slice, while disregarding that UEFA+CAF made all the legwork for a 2030 bid. Conmebol is just an invitee host. Today, Conmebol has bigger fish to fry. A 64-team WC proposal is a perfect diversion: - Brazil's fed president is no more after a Brazilian city court found forged documents leading to his election. - Conmebol president's Asian bank accounts are under review by FIFA Ethics Committee.
Fellas, keep this to '26 News. There's a better thread for FIFA insider/politics discussion. Or the '30 thread. https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/fifa-inner-workings-and-politics.2130680/#post-42964676
UEFA probably wants to avoid player burnout particularly given that many leading European players will be playing the most games in it and will therefore have three summers with tournaments instead of two in a four-year cycle. The 48-team WC format has seen the competition expanded from 4 weeks to 5.5 weeks because FIFA wants individual broadcast slots for all games (except the last two games in each group which are played simultaneously). Adding a further 24 broadcast slots in the group stage will probably push the competition to 6 weeks and further dilute its quality. The WC is important to European football and UEFA is concerned to safeguard its quality, something which Conmebol doesn't seem to care about.
The Best Bars in Mexico City to Watch World Cup https://matadornetwork.com/read/where-watch-world-cup-mexico-city/ Not sure how accurate the article is (I am sure some Mexican fans around here can tell us better ones) but I know people in this section mentioned they prefer bars to FanFest experiences so I thought this was a good resource starting point.
Last time I wandered around Mexico City, about 20 years ago, the advice was too avoid the Zona Rosa. I believe the area is now less seedy, is that true?
Good question. Hopefully one of the posters familiar with Mexico can answer this. Or you can pose this question in their forum.
It’s still seedy. But if we’re talking bars/nightlife, often those go hand-in-hand. And the surrounding neighborhoods (esp Condesa) have a lot of cafes and some higher end stuff, which may not have been the case back then. Condesa/Roma Norte/Zona Rosa are definitely the predominant neighborhoods where foreign tourists stay.
San Jose is trying to plan for viewing entertainment zones https://www.siliconvalley.com/2025/...-fifa-world-cup-super-bowl-lx-on-the-horizon/
2026 World Cup games could end up costing Toronto more money: report https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/ma...cle_eee81b81-aa92-407d-81bb-e3db9b986496.html To think people here actually thought that Canada could host by themselves.
LA World Cup Host Committee Shares Plan Ahead of Tournament “Communities from Lancaster to Long Beach and Claremont to Calabasas can play a vital role in creating a phenomenal experience for visiting fans and Angelenos during the tournament — and also help create a meaningful, lasting impact on the entire region,” she added. On Tuesday, Chris Klein and Larry Freedman, host committee co-chairs, and Schloessman encouraged cities across L.A. County to join in as partners to deliver an unforgettable World Cup experience. City leaders are encouraged to host viewing parties and other fan gatherings throughout the county. In the lead-up to the tournament, cities can help decorate streets with banners, organize other promotional activities and participate in community initiatives led by the host committee.
FIFA has published the Disciplinary Committee decisions for incidents from the March WCQ games and there's no reference to the suspended player who came on as a substitute in South Africa's win over Lesotho, so presumably Lesotho didn't make the complaint in time as per the FWCQ regulations.
FIFA took care to prevent another Byron Castillo case, simmilar to Congo situation where they spared themselves problems with group E having only 4 teams that would make fair creation of runner-up table impossible
Totally different cases. FIFA never penalized ECU nor Castillo. Colombian-born Byron Castillo represented ECU in multiple tournaments managed by FIFA: 2015 u17 WC qualifiers+WC, 2022 WC qualifiers. FIFA did not penalize ECU at all: ECU should have lost 14 points in 2022 WC qualifiers, if FIFA had applied player ineligibility rules to Castillo. It was CAS who suspended Castillo, and prorated a 3-point deduction against ECU in 2026 WC qualifiers. FIFA effectively swept Castillo's case under the rug, ever since his ineligibility was denounced during 2015 u17 WC qualifiers. CAS gave ECU a slap on the wrist. Several CAF federations may still denounce RSA's Mokoena for player ineligibility to both FIFA and CAS (a maximum 3-point loss). Last match date in group phase is in Oct 2025.
We’re reaching a point where FIFA and the IOC need to be having serious conversations about picking another host. https://t.co/86RhUMQTTe— Aaron Reichlin-Melnick (@ReichlinMelnick) June 5, 2025
I don’t think there were ever promises made that any and all fans would be able to visit the US for the World Cup and Olympics. The difficulty/expense of obtaining a US, Canadian, and (less so) Mexican tourist visa was always known to be a major negative for this tournament. In the same way that Qatar granting free visas to everyone was a major positive for that one. Most of what we’re seeing now is people trying to latch onto these major upcoming events to grandstand whatever their platform is. Same as for every World Cup and Olympics.
Trump’s new travel ban has left Iranian soccer fans devastated they won't be able to watch their team compete in the U.S.https://t.co/iMfNnFBZCR— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) June 5, 2025
Anyone who thinks the USA is not going to host and it is going to be changed to a different Nation this late in the game has to be an idiot.