Trump envoy seeks to replace Iran with Italy at World Cup, says report
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/apr/22/trump-envoy-seeks-to-replace-iran-with-italy-at-world-cup-says-reportOpen linkView original on reddthat.comhttps://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/apr/22/trump-envoy-seeks-to-replace-iran-with-italy-at-world-cup-says-reportOpen linkView original on reddthat.com
Every team should boycott games in the US. Reports are showing the whole region is seeing muted international hotel bookings and cancelations of game tickets. Don't be surprised if world cup games in America have empty seats. What an embarrassment.
I bet when FIFA awarded Trump the FIFA Peace Prize, they didn't expect that four months later, he'd be taking the World Cup balls-deep into the Iran conflict.
Infantinos personal leopards ate my face - moment
It's been only four months since that? sigh
And i still have trouble accepting that story as real. And not another onion headline….
He still had the trophy too, I think
We should just move the host from the US to Italy. That way they would qualify automatically.
I guess their flags are close enough.
And they start with the same letter
Trying to force Iran out of the World Cup is insanity on it's own, but trying to force Italy in is another insanity on its own. Should Iran be unable to compete for whatever reason, their spot should probably go to Bolivia or Jamaica, who were defeated in the final round of the intercontinental playoffs, or maybe to the United Arab Emirates as the best team from their confederation that didn't qualify.
Iran wasnt forced out, it has announced it is boycotting the games.
The president of CONI (Italian National Olympic Committee) said: "I would be offended. You have to earn the right to take part"
The minister for sport said: "It's not appropriate. You prove yourself on the pitch"
https://www.ansa.it/sito/notizie/sport/calcio/2026/04/23/litalia-ai-mondiali-al-posto-delliran-lidea-dellinviato-di-trump_76c5feaf-b821-4a3f-bec8-7141623988ae.html
He can fuck this garbage of an event up just as much as he wants. Who is actually going to watch this shit anyways? The games are going to be in the middle of the night because they wanna sell the event for the american market, not for the Europeans.
Hopefully no one, but wouldn't be the first time sports fans disappoint me. People want to see the ball bounce, people will watch the ball bounce.
I mean, I am a football fan, but no way am I going to watch this garbage, when Mafifa decides to fuck us with the time difference, and give trump a peace medal. Fuck that shit.
I'm glad to hear it. And I would be very glad if my pessimism turns out to be false. But I really don't have much hope anymore. I remember when the games were in Brazil and everyone was raging about how Brazil was cleaning up the areas with force and about the corruption etc... and then it turned out to be one of the most watched games (I may be misremembering this part but they were wildly popular).
Same thing with F1. So many people said they will stop watching because of all the Saudi, Qatar etc. races... But the sport is more popular than it has ever been.
But, I guess there is still hope. Trump has proven to be such a massive arsehole cunt that he might actually pull off a ace out of his shitty diapers and make the games be a massive failure. I really do hope that happens. But I'm a pessimist. Plaargh.
For me it was when FIFA gave Russia the world cup in 2018, even though they annexed Krim and were still in war with Ukraine.. Then FIFA showed their true colors.
The one thing FIA did correctly was not tither about the decision to cancel the russian GP and Mazepin's racing license when the 2022 escalation happened.
Though the fact that the russian GP happened at all when Crimea and shit was happening was a farce of its own... So +5 and -20 points to FIA for all that.
I was disgusted by Qatar, football fans are just assholes.
That too
I'm used to getting up early on the weekend to watch EPL games so the kick off times would be welcome but I'm not going to watch. I skipped the last one, it's not a big deal to skip this one.
Me too
Fuck no please, missing world cups is the best thing that's happened in sports in recent years. Everything's better, people do other things, minor sports get a boost, nobody's moody because we get eliminated at some point...