My hockey friend asks every 4 years. He always watches the game and asks "how is that offsides?". Gotta tell him the last defender is the blue line.
Previously hydration breaks have been in place when set temperature-based criteria have been reached. Including them in all matches no matter what the actual weather is and even in roofed stadiums is new and regrettable. Not the end of the world but another waste of time. Half time used to be 10 minutes, not 15. There used to be a lot less added time and far fewer substitutions. If a match kicked off at 3pm it would finish around 4.45-4.50. Now a 3pm kick off regularly goes beyond 5pm. We don't get an extra 10 minutes entertainment. For this World Cup matches will take place over 125 minutes rather than the 105 that they took when I was a kid. Much of this extra time is due to players time-wasting, also known as cheating, so not all the blame goes to officials.
I dont agree. Football has always been the sport of the people. Over the years it has just gotten more and more money orientated. But for many, its still about the local club and community
They werent 3 minuts and at this WC their Will be hydration breaks even if the weather isnt partically warm. Its not like 3 minuts are killing anybody. But its just the whole thing. Potentiel halftime break, so 15 minuts break will be over 30 minuts. Trump getting a Damn peace prime while supporting genocide and so on. And we all know he will make an appereance at the finale again, making it all about him. Is it really too much to ask not to americanize football?
Yes. For the few diehards it is about local club and community. But even many of those diehards and communities are asking their clubs to keep up with the Joneses and find ways to buy championships and get the best players possible. No one really wants to support incompetent teams with incompetent management that accepts mediocrity or losing every year.
So effectively the 4 x 20 minute halves Rothenburg(?) was scoffed at for requesting before 1994 have happened.
Wasn't it "halftime show for all games" and "104 Superbowls"? We had that until like 10 years ago... when sport channels came to existence in former Yugoslavia region, they had commercial breaks during every game they were showing but, of course, you miss the action, they don't continue on mark where they left. I remember missing an El Clasico goal because of 30-second commercial.
They are totally showing adds during the actual match. We're still setting most of the screen focused on the match. So far...
Next will be a break every 15 minutes. I positively cannot stand Infantino and many of the changes he has implemented. I will keep my 2026 World Cup viewing to an absolute minimum. Mostly the Swiss matches.
Parts of football are more capitalistic than other sports like player movement post-Bosman, but others are far less. There's a good amount of socialism when it comes to ticket prices in the club game. Its very far from being open market. The key is to be a club member. There's also revenue sharing between clubs for splitting the TV revenue. Probably many other examples that I haven't really thought of.
Funny how offside is so different in the two sports. In football it's all about where the opposing players & in hockey it has absolutlyl nothing to do with where the opposing players are.
Same origin. A player had to be behind the ball when a pass was made. Soccer and hockey relaxed the rule, rugby never has. I don't think a last man offside would work in a five man game. In traditional five a side indoor soccer, there's no offside but an outfield player cannot enter the goal area. Futsal doesn't have that rule.
Also, in soccer offside only comes into play when a pass is made, whereas in hockey it has nothing to do with passing.
Be honest, though: Denzel Washington shows up tomorrow wanting to pull a Wrexham with your team - would your fans really turn him down? On the macro level, the motivation for Infantino, himself a UEFA alumnus, is a barely-concealed envy of UEFA's revenues, which he parlays into an anti-(alleged)-European-hoarding platform that the rest of the world's only all too willing to buy into, if only for the increased annual FIFA grants.
Obviously not. But we turn up season after season to support the team who have gone the longest in the English league system without getting promoted and one of only four teams not to have played at the new Wembley. It's the hope that kills you.
??? So you think the waiting lists for season tickets for all the Eredivisie clubs (regular size is 1/3 of the stadium's capacity is the size of the waiting list) are fake news, because clubs below the top 6 most of the times don't have a chance to even qualify for a uEFA tournement. NAC Breda for years on end in our second tier failed to promote, but their fanbase never went awol. Now they finally made it into the Eredivisie their stadium is still selling out, despite their not so good reults. From their website on june 13th 2025: Only after the first home game will NAC decide how many season tickets will still be on sale and how many will be available separately per match. These season tickets are offered to the ever-growing waiting list. If you still want to claim a season ticket, register for the waiting list.
Both Infantilo and his greedy bunch should know the minute they lay their hands on the EURO billions by introducing a bi-annual worldcup with the intention to replace the EUROs, FIFA stops existing and the worldcup billions evaporate into thin air, which in fact means instead of more money, this move would end the 4 year Worldcup billions money flow.
Sometimes I wish UEFA would tell FIFA to F-off and just have a Euro Championship every two years. Nothing against the other confederations. I just can't stand FIFA
Does anyone else find Infantino corrupt with how much he is changing the game of soccer in a BAD way? Russia, Qatar hosting first, now in 2025 giving Trump a peace prize + these hydration breaks with commercials along with these ridiculous ticket prices..
How did Russia hosting the World Cup “change the game of soccer in a bad way”? I’ll grant that Qatar had no business hosting the entire World Cup in one city, but the on-field tournament there was completely fine. The hydration breaks for 2026 are being put in place because Europeans wouldn’t stop complaining about the heat during the Club World Cup. Ticket prices thus far are high but not out of line with what we should expect for the world’s most popular sporting event hosted in the world’s wealthiest country. Infantino’s obsession with Trump and allowing him to insert himself into everything is unsavory, we agree there. The only recent compairson I can think of is Qatar’s leader forcing Messi to wear that sacred shawl during the trophy presentation in Doha. Which also occurred on Infantino’s watch.