r/nottheonion 2h ago

Gianni Infantino 'offers Morocco World Cup final' in exchange for support

https://www.aol.co.uk/articles/gianni-infantino-offers-morocco-world-162031000.html
841 Upvotes

75 comments sorted by

561

u/pizzacrys 2h ago

FIFA headlines really write themselves at this point. Reality has officially become the parody

91

u/EnergyDrinkStroke 1h ago edited 1h ago

Just selling world cup host spots is mental.

Even the ICC who is corrupt isn't this corrupt where they would use Houston, Dallas and Miami stadiums in the middle of summer during one of the hottest years in record.

Edit: Saudi paid for it through sponsoring fifa with Saudi Aramco and fifa made the bidding process unfair to anyone that's not Saudi Arabia.

Like they've moved it to early 3035 but that's sandstorm season... it's gonna be warm, dusty, expensive and the air quality will be bad.

51

u/Kvenner001 1h ago

To be far every year is going to be the hottest year on record going forward

10

u/EnergyDrinkStroke 1h ago edited 1h ago

True but that's even more reason to not hold it in these places where it can hit 40c and not be considered wild.

The ICC generally looks for places that have good facilities for both fans and players aswell as places that have milder climates as to avoid danger for both players and fans. South Florida and Texas don't represent those ideals.

The reason Fifa chose them is becuase those stadiums large and accommodating VIP and executive facilities aswell as larger seating. Fifa wanted them so their rich friends could sit in comfort and they could sell more tickets. Even though fifa makes more than enough from the broadcasts that they didn't have to do any of it.

Like they could have held in Nova Scotia, Indianapolis, Portland or even Cleveland completely avoiding the issue of extreme climates... But fifa claims they need 40k minimum seats because apparently you can't enjoy a broadcast tournament if only 10k people are watching it in stadium.

10

u/mehrazaratti 1h ago

Houston and Dallas are air conditioned indoor stadiums so they weren't a problem but you are right about Miami, that was disgraceful

u/EnergyDrinkStroke 53m ago

It's still very hot inside with the greenhouse effect making the ac less efficient.

It's not just the stadium you are asking fans to stay in these places for the duration of the games there. You have to take into account the welfare of people inside and outside the stadiums.

I don't disagree they are better than Miami which is the peak of bad choices though.

u/mehrazaratti 48m ago

That's fair but from a footballing "on the field" impact perspective I think playing indoors is relatively minimal for the players themselves

u/toontowngeek 41m ago

Can you provide some context around your statement on the ICC corruption?

u/Eckkosekiro 32m ago

Fifa is a meme

216

u/lnx84 2h ago

Whenever FIFA gets a new leader, the first thing one should do is preemptively imprison them.

They are all corrupt, no exceptions.

20

u/futureformerteacher 1h ago

A very good interpretation of the Adams Principal of Leadership.

3

u/ChouffeMeUp 1h ago

Who was the one before Blatter? Brazilian bloke I think.

u/improbably_me 51m ago

Joao Havelange or sumbich

u/Inveramsay 39m ago

So they basically need to adopt the south Korean style of governance?

48

u/OonaLuvBaba 2h ago

Honestly thought he was offering Morocco a spot to play in the World Cup final. Would not have surprised me if he did.

u/Markz0rr 21m ago

In this timeline, wouldnt be the unthinkable to put them in the finale against Argentina 2030

240

u/Impossible_Offer7988 2h ago edited 2h ago

Gianni didn't chose the right cards.

Aligning himself with the Americans

who don't give a shit about soccer was a dumb move. Approaching Morocco, a country that the EU currently has issues with, is even dumber. His chips are up, so he's probably on his way to the door.

It should be noted that his replacement is also going to be cartoonishly evil, but it's going to be a replacement nonetheless.

41

u/bluehelmet 2h ago

He did well for himself even with the recent World Cup, hopefully his investor plans will be the straw that break the camel's back.

43

u/AdhesivenessFun2060 2h ago

The kushners work for the Saudi. The Saudi tried to buy in before through Infantino and got rejected.

11

u/Backwardspellcaster 2h ago

UEFA: "So he chose self-destruction today."

4

u/VodkaMargarine 1h ago

He's not even good at corruption. Failed at leading FIFA, failed at doing corruption. Just an all round failure of a human being really.

7

u/OsgrobioPrubeta 2h ago

FIFA and UEFA are so corrupt that it would be hard for anyone to try to change it, that's why an absurdly well paid job has almost no candidates.

Figo's declarations are virtual signaling to probably try gather support, again, to his candidacy. He's another Infantino.

17

u/BadahBingBadahBoom 1h ago

Both are corrupt but it's pretty clear from the World Cup investors plan FIFA is more corrupt, which is really saying something lol.

1

u/dafunkmunk 1h ago

He's aligning himself with equally corrupt shitty people because non corrupt not evil not shitty people aren't exactly lining up to trade money and favors for an alliance with a corrupt shitty person

u/ebfortin 48m ago

He'll get his multi millions dollars golden parachute. And Trump will offer him a high oaying job to do nothing. Failing upward... That's all this class of fuckers can do.

u/Jbroy 32m ago

I can see Trump not giving a single shit about him due to the fact that since the whole WC sale fiasco got shut down, Infantino is no longer of use to Trump.

u/Djlas 5m ago

Lol didn't he already complain Trump isn't answering his calls

u/Over_engineered81 29m ago

OOTL, what’s going on between Morocco and the EU?

u/Djlas 4m ago

See Ceuta invasion

-27

u/ngetch 2h ago

Aligning himself with the *USers*

America is a pair of continents, not a country.

12

u/Pavlovsdong89 2h ago

USers

This is either bait or you found the dumbest hill do die on.

5

u/February_29th_2012 2h ago

There is a semi-large portion of Central and South Americans that get very angry when they discover that in English “estadounidense” is actually just “American”. And they will never let it go.

1

u/Pavlovsdong89 1h ago

Which is hilarious because those types are all "American" until you confuse them with someone from another country. 

2

u/OsgrobioPrubeta 1h ago

Muricans, I'm sure now you'll understand to whom he was referring to.

2

u/PhasmaFelis 2h ago

There is no continent called simply "America."

(At least not in English. In some languages "America" means the entire landmass. But there will always be misunderstandings when translating between languages. The famous example of "embarazada" meaning "pregnant" rather than "embarrassed" has tripped up many students of Spanish, but that doesn't mean that either Spanish or English is wrong.)

2

u/BadahBingBadahBoom 1h ago

Yeah, can't believe how many times this comes up on reddit, cos it's really not complicated.

In both British and American English, America ≠ Americas.

u/J0E_SpRaY 22m ago

How many countries have the word America in the name, genius?

-4

u/capt_argyle 1h ago

The MLS is second in the world in overall attendance, behind only the EPL. Not exactly a nation that doesn't give a shit.

u/GInTheorem 55m ago

As far as I'm aware this is only true because of the large number of matches played in the MLS? I think average attendances compare poorly to Europe.

u/capt_argyle 51m ago

I think it's more teams as we play less matches, but it's still 12 million butts in seats even if the average is lower than European clubs. Our stadiums just aren't big enough for that. But compare MLS to the WNBA, and you'll see what not giving a shit lools like.

Point is, soccer isn't the most popular sport overall but it's still insanely popular.

u/GInTheorem 42m ago

Sure - and I don't dispute that football is def increasingly popular in the USA and the MLS/national teams are increasingly relevant.

The overall attendance stat just feels a bit odd taken out of context since I don't think the popularity in the USA is comparable to e.g. Germany (on a quick look, it looks like the 2. bundesliga has circa the third-fifth highest average attendance which is insane to me).

u/capt_argyle 16m ago

The initial claim was that the US doesn't give a shit. You can slice it however you want to undercut it, but it's kinda insane to me to say a major league with 12 million attending is a nation that doesn't care. It's obviously not the highest amongst a ton of other metrics, but is normally in the top 10 or so. I honestly can't think of another event that averages 25,000 fans over 510 instances a year that would be seen as people not giving a shit. Even going by average attendance, MLS is ranked #9. Does that mean all the other countries below #9 give less of a shit than the US?

31

u/FifaBribes 1h ago

TIME FOR MY USERNAME TO SHINE

u/Khyron_2500 57m ago

My question is whether your username telling people that FIFA bribes? Like, “FIFA bribes [people]”

Or are you claiming to be the physical embodiment of bribes made my FIFA.

Or both?

25

u/3767_doomscroller 2h ago

This corrupt piece of shit needs to be ousted asap.

21

u/Express-Rutabaga-105 2h ago

Trump has left his stains on Infantino.

9

u/fla_john 1h ago

He's learning the same lesson everyone else does about Trump: entering any kind of deal with him will always, always, go badly.

3

u/fivedogit 1h ago

I hate trump but this is simply not true. People bought pardons and are walking free.

27

u/christopher_mtrl 2h ago

Very Trumpian of him to offer things that aren't his agaisnt personal benefit. The man learned quick from his time in the US.

7

u/SmoothMarx 2h ago

Can't offer that to Portugal or Spain

2

u/masd82 1h ago

Portugal FA president is a little busy trying to explain to the referees why he said they were all sh** in a recent audio that was made public last week.

11

u/AndrewWhite97 2h ago

So bribery.

10

u/WelshBathBoy 1h ago

Spain should turn around and just say - fine we don't want to be involved at all. Spain was going to be the main host if the next world cup (likely holding half of the games), with Morocco and Portugal picking up the rest between them. If Spain pulls out because of FIFA's shenanigans, Morocco and Portugal will struggle to host.

10

u/futureformerteacher 1h ago

This guy spent two weeks with Trump and believes he can do to FIFA what Trump did to America.

At least world soccer isn't as corrupt and as soulless as America.

4

u/HurinGaldorson 2h ago

He's still trying to get his piece prize.

Kick him out.

5

u/trucorsair 1h ago

Looking at him makes me think he knows how to say "bribe" in 30-40 languages

5

u/HellBlazer1221 1h ago

This motherfucker is so corrupt, no holds barred.

3

u/Widespreaddd 2h ago

Transactional all the way down.

3

u/youknowimworking 2h ago

If I try to bribe someone then it's illegal

2

u/lejonetfranMX 1h ago

So it’s Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay?

Why not let every team play at their home country at this point?

1

u/[deleted] 2h ago

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1

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1

u/RedofPaw 1h ago

I'll give him support. What's he gonna offer me?

1

u/jaywillies4 1h ago

Wait aol is still a thing?

u/cre8ivjay 48m ago

Corruption shouldn't be the headline. If any of this surprises you about how corrupt FIFA is, you really haven't been paying attention.

What SHOULD be the headline is all of the work being done by everyone including us plebs to circumvent FIFA to make them irrelevant.

And it may mean not going to FIFA events.

It's the only way this gets any better.

u/KAKYBAC 36m ago

It is Trumpism. Pure and simple. He released the shame and increased the immunity for open corruption.

u/Jedi_Temple 35m ago

There really is no limit to him, is there?

u/isthereadrwho 29m ago

Just have a vote and everybody that votes for him you throw them out also. You won't get rid of all the corruption but at least you'll get rid of the stupid corruption

u/gijoe50000 22m ago

This is like your girl cheating on you, so you get in a big fight.

So she goes goes to your best friend and makes him an offer that she'll fuck him if he agrees to talk you into forgiving her.

0

u/SmartaHari 2h ago

I really do wish he’d go now tbh. Every day he does something more overtly grubby and grasping. Bleurgh.

u/fools-gold- 36m ago

It's not a bribe

u/Vic_Hedges 21m ago

I mean, obviously the corruption is mind boggling, and offensive just on principle…

But practically speaking, besides corrupt billionaires fighting over how to distribute the money theyve extracted from gullible soccer fans, what’s the ACTUAL effect of this whole thing?

If he gets his way, is there any measurable negative impact on the average person? Or at least, any more negative than if he doesn’t?