Because attending sporting events and drinking a cold alcoholic beverages go so well together, many soccer fans have already started worrying about a potential ban on beer for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. That’s not the plan, the event’s organizers say, at least, not so far. [More]
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World Cup Ticket Prices Will Top $1,000 For The First Time
By 7.6.16
If you’re planning on attending the 2018 World Cup in Moscow, you better start saving, as ticket prices will cross the $1,000 mark for the first time. [More]
FIFA Chief Sepp Blatter Banned Over $2M Payment To Fellow Soccer Exec
By 12.21.15
More than six months after he announced he would eventually be ending his nearly two-decade reign atop the world’s largest soccer organization, FIFA president Sepp Blatter has been banned from the sport for eight years. [More]
Four Major Sponsors Call For FIFA President To Resign Immediately, He Refuses
By 10.2.15
Sure, sure, the president of global soccer association FIFA is under criminal investigation in Switzerland, but that doesn’t mean that he should make any rash decisions, like resigning in advance of the emergency presidential election in February. Now some of FIFA’s deep-pocketed sponsors are calling for Blatter to resign immediately, and he… refuses. [More]
FIFA’s $30 Million Vanity Film Somehow Managed To Earn $918 At Box Office
By 6.19.15
FIFA, the world’s most powerful soccer organization, is embroiled in criminal accusations and charges against a number of senior executives. Longtime FIFA President Sepp Blatter (and owner of a name that bears repeating… Sepp Blatter) recently announced he was stepping down only days after being re-elected. Meanwhile, soccer fans around the world are in the throes of both the FIFA Women’s World Cup and the 2015 Copa América in Chile. In spite of all this in focus on FIFA and football right now, United Passions, the $30 million, FIFA-backed vanity film about the organization’s brilliant leadership has managed to bring in about as much money as a Kevin Federline concert. [More]
FIFA President Sepp Blatter (Eventually) Quitting Amid Corruption Probe
By 6.2.15
Last Friday, Sepp Blatter was reelected as president of FIFA, the world’s most powerful soccer organization, only days after several high-ranking FIFA officials were arrested on charges of receiving illegal bribes and kickbacks. Today, after nearly two decades as head of the group behind the World Cup, Blatter announced he will be stepping down. [More]
John Oliver Pledges To Eat McDonald’s, Drink Budweiser If They Use Sponsorship Power To Change FIFA
By 6.1.15
Last week, the soccer world was rocked when numerous current and former FIFA officials were arrested and charged with accepting illegal kickbacks and bribes. Only days later, FIFA President Sepp Blatter, under whose oversight these alleged crimes have occurred for nearly two decades, was reelected. That’s why John Oliver has called on FIFA’s high-profile sponsors to use their financial leverage to effect some change in the most powerful soccer organization in the world. [More]
Visa Sends A Warning That It Could Pull Its FIFA Sponsorship
By 5.28.15
What a difference a week makes: Although last week it seemed Visa, Coca-Cola and other big name sponsors would stick with their sponsorships of the 2022 soccer World Cup amidst rumors of human rights abuses in host country Qatar, after multiple officials of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and several allied businesses were arrested yesterday, it seems some companies are getting cold feet. [More]
FIFA Officials Arrested On Racketeering, Bribery, Money Laundering Charges
By 5.27.15
The world’s most prominent soccer organization has been rocked this morning with the arrest in Switzerland of multiple officials of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and several allied businesses on charges that include racketeering, bribery, wire fraud and money laundering. The Justice Dept. claims the defendants have been enriching themselves through corruption for more than two decades. [More]
Visa, Coca-Cola Respond To Human Rights Concerns About Qatar World Cup; Not Pulling Out As Sponsors
By 5.20.15
Since the mysterious cabal that is FIFA announced that the 2022 soccer World Cup would be played in Qatar, there have been rumors of graft, concerns about the exceedingly high temperatures, and most importantly multiple reports of human rights abuses at worksites for the new stadiums and other facilities being erected around the country. As more people call on the event’s largest sponsors to pull their support, some are responding, though none are giving any indication that they won’t slap their name on the wildly popular tournament. [More]
FIFA Exec Says Qatar Is Just Too Hot To Host 2022 World Cup
By 9.22.14
There are numerous reasons why Qatar was a questionable choice to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup, from the conditions for the workers building the venues to allegations of corruption in the bidding process to basic issues of human rights. But for one exec at the international soccer association, it’s just too darn hot in Qatar. [More]
Delta Apologizes For Ghana Giraffe Gaffe On Twitter
By 6.17.14
Last night, the U.S. men’s soccer team edged out the team from Ghana for its first victory in 2014 World Cup play. People everywhere went online to congratulate the team, including Delta Air Lines, which didn’t do quite enough research about the wildlife in Ghana before it Tweeted. [More]
StubHub Users Seeking World Cup Tickets In Brazil Stymied By Cyber Attack
By 5.7.14
Soccer fans (yes, other countries, we know you call it football) in Brazil trying to score resold tickets on StubHub in that country have been blocked from doing so after the site suffered a large denial-of-service attack and shut down. This, amidst the insistence of soccer’s governing body FIFA and the Brazilian government that all tickets to the upcoming World Coup tournament should come directly from FIFA. [More]
Adidas Drops World Cup T-Shirts After Host Country Brazil Deems Them Too Sexy
By 2.27.14
The country that put thong bikinis on the map would rather not put out the wrong message about its citizens during the 2014 World Cup. Brazil has nixed two graphic T-shirts from Adidas for being too suggestive, saying the country doesn’t want to promote sexual exploitation. [More]
Soccer Officials Suspended In Bribery Scandal
By 5.30.11
Long-standing accusations of corruption in the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA), the world soccer governing body, have picked up traction lately, forcing two top officials in the organization to step aside in light of accusations that they offered $40,000 bribes to two dozen officials in an attempt to buy their votes for the presidency. [More]
Basketball Championships To Be Vuvuzela-Free
By 8.2.10
Kobe and Lebron won’t be at the World Basketball Championships, which start on August 28th in Turkey. Neither will any of the other NBA players who helped Team USA win the Gold at the 2008 Olympics. But if you’re still going to watch the tournament, here’s one consolation: No vuvuzelas. The organizers have banned the horns, saying that they’re “not appropriate in a confined space such as a basketball arena.” [More]
FIFA Backs Down on World Ticket Prices (A Bit)
By 12.23.05
For you in this time of joy, a happyish ending to Grant Williams’s FIFA World Cup Ticket Saga:
Edit: I get results, baby! According to the Babelfish translation of this page, the TST-Series non-refundable fees have been negotiated down to only 10, 20, and 30 euros per ticket instead of the 20, 30, and 50 euros they were originally. Not perfectly to my satisfaction, but better than nothing, I suppose.
FIFA’s World Cup Balls: ‘Worse Than Ticketmaster’
By 12.9.05
More evil than Ticketmaster? That’s the accusation fielded by Grant WIlliams against FIFA, World Cup soccer’s governing body. Even better, he’s got the numbers to back it up. It seems FIFA requires you to put down money on tickets before the championships have shaken out. If the team whom you’ve pre-paid to watch doesn’t qualify, FIFA refunds your money—minus a per-ticket “modality” fee.
