FIFA World Cup 2026 :Canada/Mexico/United States: Discussion Thread

[retreat]

It is very unfortunate that a team as good as Brazil has to be managed by an organization that is very corrupt and does not care about the future of their football. I don't know what's on their mind so they only think short-sightedly and care about their pockets, and make Brazilian football so chaotic.

But from what I read, Rodrigues was elected president of the CBF and is preparing a true revolution in Brazilian football. I don't really understand the track record of this person, but from his ambition to modernize the national football structure, professionalize competitions, and strengthen unity between clubs and the CBF, I see that he is optimistic that the future of Brazilian football can still be saved. And hopefully what he is doing can be successful, even though I know that it will take a long time for the results to be seen.

Ednaldo Rodrigues elected second time on 24th March 2025 which mean situation is not going to change here in CBF because all peoples on their spots taking good facilities and killing soccer in Brazil which is surely going to be shameful because no one care about bringing stability and improvement.

Quality is almost at lowest level in Brazilian soccer while many top quality players are having good performance around the world but sadly nothing positive happening for their national team their recent humiliated defeat against Argentina make things terrible now search for new coach is already started but no one talking about core problems within system and team. Lacking creativity and depth hurting Brazilian soccer they needed a coach which understand their weakness and give them good way of setting things on right path.

Didn't know that the CBF situation was worse than it seemed. I thought at least a change in the federation president could change, at least a little bit, but it seems from your explanation confirms that the same people with the same mindset are still in control of the federation and can't make any changes to the Brazilian national team.
And from what I read, Ronaldo, the Brazilian legend, has entered the presidential candidate radar, but he didn't get the support he deserved to become CBF president with 23 out of 27 stakeholders closing the door for him. It's a shame that even the former best footballer in the world couldn't get the chance to revolutionize his national football federation. I agree with slapper's statement that until something extraordinary happens, don't expect the CBF to be revolutionized.

[criptoevangelista]

It is very unfortunate that a team as good as Brazil has to be managed by an organization that is very corrupt and does not care about the future of their football. I don't know what's on their mind so they only think short-sightedly and care about their pockets, and make Brazilian football so chaotic.

But from what I read, Rodrigues was elected president of the CBF and is preparing a true revolution in Brazilian football. I don't really understand the track record of this person, but from his ambition to modernize the national football structure, professionalize competitions, and strengthen unity between clubs and the CBF, I see that he is optimistic that the future of Brazilian football can still be saved. And hopefully what he is doing can be successful, even though I know that it will take a long time for the results to be seen.

Ednaldo Rodrigues elected second time on 24th March 2025 which mean situation is not going to change here in CBF because all peoples on their spots taking good facilities and killing soccer in Brazil which is surely going to be shameful because no one care about bringing stability and improvement.

Quality is almost at lowest level in Brazilian soccer while many top quality players are having good performance around the world but sadly nothing positive happening for their national team their recent humiliated defeat against Argentina make things terrible now search for new coach is already started but no one talking about core problems within system and team. Lacking creativity and depth hurting Brazilian soccer they needed a coach which understand their weakness and give them good way of setting things on right path.

Didn't know that the CBF situation was worse than it seemed. I thought at least a change in the federation president could change, at least a little bit, but it seems from your explanation confirms that the same people with the same mindset are still in control of the federation and can't make any changes to the Brazilian national team.
And from what I read, Ronaldo, the Brazilian legend, has entered the presidential candidate radar, but he didn't get the support he deserved to become CBF president with 23 out of 27 stakeholders closing the door for him. It's a shame that even the former best footballer in the world couldn't get the chance to revolutionize his national football federation. I agree with slapper's statement that until something extraordinary happens, don't expect the CBF to be revolutionized.

Exactly, Ronaldo Nazário tried to become president and sought support among the clubs, but no one backed him. I find that very strange because almost all the clubs are constantly criticizing the CBF, yet when there's an opportunity for change, they just pretend nothing is happening... it's complicated. In my opinion, corruption is so deeply rooted in Brazilian football that it's almost impossible to confront and change the system.

[tiCeR]

....

Exactly, Ronaldo Nazário tried to become president and sought support among the clubs, but no one backed him. I find that very strange because almost all the clubs are constantly criticizing the CBF, yet when there's an opportunity for change, they just pretend nothing is happening... it's complicated. In my opinion, corruption is so deeply rooted in Brazilian football that it's almost impossible to confront and change the system.

Ronaldo was supported by all the money he was thrown after. He knew that whatever happens, he is going to make out brilliantly in financial terms. It hurts, but it must be accepted.

Back when he accepted that offer from the Saudi Arabians, I thought that this could be the beginning of a long lasting initiative where the Saudi Arabian clubs buy all the greatest players, but it was good to see that more and more players declined to go there. Building teams with money only is not fun at all.

However, he was offered so much money that I think probably no person in the world would have said no to that offer.

[Sithara007]

No that is not how this will play out. I can't have an opinion on what is going to happen in 100 years or 150 years from now, but in the foreseeable future Asian football won't challenge the top teams from South America and Europe.

Even if we assume that the Asian region improves their facilities and raises greater players than they do now, what would happen is that the best clubs from Europe would sign them. What incentive would strong Asian talents have to risk their career staying in Asia hoping that it is going to be the next big thing.

Look at the overwhelming population in terms of quantity and yet their participation in European football in terms of the number of players is negligible. Heung-min Son is called an Asian exception for a reason because there aren't many. I don't know why suddenly there should be dozens of him in the major Asian nations building globally competitive football teams.

Saudi Arabia signing Portuguese players doesn't change much for Saudi Arabian players.

Don't be so sure about it. South America is undergoing a demographic collapse. Birth rates in countries such as Chile now stands below 1 child per woman. Asia on the other hand (except for East Asia) is surging ahead, both in terms of economy and population. Asia and Africa are the future. South America is actually hit by the double whammy of decreasing population and continued loss of population to emigration. Poor economy means that players migrate to other countries to play top level football.

[tiCeR]

...

Don't be so sure about it. South America is undergoing a demographic collapse. Birth rates in countries such as Chile now stands below 1 child per woman. Asia on the other hand (except for East Asia) is surging ahead, both in terms of economy and population. Asia and Africa are the future. South America is actually hit by the double whammy of decreasing population and continued loss of population to emigration. Poor economy means that players migrate to other countries to play top level football.

I am not saying it is never going to happen, but birth rates are no guarantee at all for success in specific kinds of sports. If it was, then India and China would dominate everything. It has to do with culture, with genetics, popularity, a lot of factors. There are sports that I think Europeans will never be better at than the Asians. Birth rates don't matter.

Yes all the top players are to be found in Europe at some point in their careers and this is exactly one problem why I think that Most Asian countries won't just evolve into dominating football nations because as soon as they have a great talent spotted there, it is not going to take long until that talent ends up in Europe too. That means they won't be able to build out highly competitive leagues over a longer period of time, but to have sustainable development and growth in a national team, I think that's important to some degree.

[Fiatless]

Don't be so sure about it. South America is undergoing a demographic collapse. Birth rates in countries such as Chile now stands below 1 child per woman. Asia on the other hand (except for East Asia) is surging ahead, both in terms of economy and population. Asia and Africa are the future. South America is actually hit by the double whammy of decreasing population and continued loss of population to emigration. Poor economy means that players migrate to other countries to play top level football.

We were recently doing a study on some South American countries regarding the rate of increase in drug-related crimes. That was when I saw that countries like Uruguay are facing a high reduction of population. Population can contribute to the rate of good footballers that is produced in a country like the case of Nigeria. But highly populated countries like India and China have few world-class players even with a high population.

Effective and efficient administration of football matters more than population. European countries will still produce better players because they have strong institutions, good facilities and less government interference. Good players from other countries will prefer to naturalize in Europe because they offer the best deals.

[dezoel]

We were recently doing a study on some South American countries regarding the rate of increase in drug-related crimes. That was when I saw that countries like Uruguay are facing a high reduction of population. Population can contribute to the rate of good footballers that is produced in a country like the case of Nigeria. But highly populated countries like India and China have few world-class players even with a high population.

Effective and efficient administration of football matters more than population. European countries will still produce better players because they have strong institutions, good facilities and less government interference. Good players from other countries will prefer to naturalize in Europe because they offer the best deals.

I agreed with your few points with now things are taking quick changes dimensions are changing South America was fertile with legendary soccer players but due to their poor structure and rule of criminal mafias now changes are happening and players are shifting in safe zones.

Africa is now having many big names even still we can't ignore South American soccer culture, but now changes are happening which are not good for this region and their soccer culture currently more the 500 South American soccer players are playing around big leagues in Europe and Asia but for keeping this rhythm they needed to work on their system. Brazilian soccer is facing challenges for long time while Argentina is still stable, but many other countries in this region are having terrible situation they can bring things back into control but for this need strong and power soccer management.

[virasog]

I am not saying it is never going to happen, but birth rates are no guarantee at all for success in specific kinds of sports. If it was, then India and China would dominate everything. It has to do with culture, with genetics, popularity, a lot of factors. There are sports that I think Europeans will never be better at than the Asians. Birth rates don't matter.

Yes all the top players are to be found in Europe at some point in their careers and this is exactly one problem why I think that Most Asian countries won't just evolve into dominating football nations because as soon as they have a great talent spotted there, it is not going to take long until that talent ends up in Europe too. That means they won't be able to build out highly competitive leagues over a longer period of time, but to have sustainable development and growth in a national team, I think that's important to some degree.

Yes, the Asian players lack in performance compared to the European players and there are number of reasons for this and not just the birth rate or such things. The top Asian talents are quickly funnelled into Europe, and there are pros and cons for the players themselves. These Players would want to develop themselves in the world’s best leagues likes of Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga etc. The dark side of this is that it weakens the domestic leagues like  Japan’s J-League or the South Korea’s K-League. It makes it harder to develop the competitive national teams organically with native only players.

[tiCeR]

...

Yes, the Asian players lack in performance compared to the European players and there are number of reasons for this and not just the birth rate or such things. The top Asian talents are quickly funnelled into Europe, and there are pros and cons for the players themselves. These Players would want to develop themselves in the world’s best leagues likes of Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga etc. The dark side of this is that it weakens the domestic leagues like  Japan’s J-League or the South Korea’s K-League. It makes it harder to develop the competitive national teams organically with native only players.

That is the point and frankly, I don't think anyone who knows something about competitive sports shouldn't argue with birth rates to be the driving factor of international competitiveness, regardless of whether it is about basketball, football, or any other sport.

For instance the Olympics have been dominated in sprints mostly by US sprinters whereas the longer runs like 10.000 m and more have never been dominated by them. I have no clue about specific research, but I think climate and other circumstances in training and genetics lead to this outcome. It is probably more prevalent in a sport like running from short distances to long distances, but in football you can observe the same phenomena that for decades now it is the same nations dominating world football.

If birth rate had anything to do with it, the medal count for most sports would be looking differently.

[retreat]

-snip-
The top Asian talents are quickly funnelled into Europe, and there are pros and cons for the players themselves. These Players would want to develop themselves in the world’s best leagues likes of Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga etc. The dark side of this is that it weakens the domestic leagues like  Japan’s J-League or the South Korea’s K-League. It makes it harder to develop the competitive national teams organically with native only players.

That is the problem faced by Asian countries. Although it is the right of every talented individual to develop their career in the best places such as European leagues, it will be a problem for domestic leagues in Asia because they lose their best talents and they will lose the opportunity to build their leagues to be more competitive since there are fewer competitors in their leagues and that makes their leagues less popular.

That is why in this case it is very important for the federation to maintain the early childhood development system and domestic club academies. That way they can ensure that these young talents can develop their careers first in the country for a longer time to maintain the competition in the domestic league, only then they can develop their careers abroad.

[Hanadawa]

Effective and efficient administration of football matters more than population. European countries will still produce better players because they have strong institutions, good facilities and less government interference. Good players from other countries will prefer to naturalize in Europe because they offer the best deals.

I think besides genetics and talent, access to the best facilities can make a player develop his talent and abilities. I mean we can see how young European players have world-class academies. They have facilities and infrastructure that are very supportive to develop their talents from an early age. I take France for example. France has many players of descent and some of their parents are immigrants who do not have enough money for their daily lives. But in France their children can get good football facilities. That is what makes us see French players who were initially nobodies but played in the World Cup. This is different from some developing countries like in Africa and Asia where even if you have extraordinary talent in football, you do not have the luck to get access for your talent to develop.

[Floxynice]

Don't be so sure about it. South America is undergoing a demographic collapse. Birth rates in countries such as Chile now stands below 1 child per woman. Asia on the other hand (except for East Asia) is surging ahead, both in terms of economy and population. Asia and Africa are the future. South America is actually hit by the double whammy of decreasing population and continued loss of population to emigration. Poor economy means that players migrate to other countries to play top level football.

We were recently doing a study on some South American countries regarding the rate of increase in drug-related crimes. That was when I saw that countries like Uruguay are facing a high reduction of population. Population can contribute to the rate of good footballers that is produced in a country like the case of Nigeria. But highly populated countries like India and China have few world-class players even with a high population.

Effective and efficient administration of football matters more than population. European countries will still produce better players because they have strong institutions, good facilities and less government interference. Good players from other countries will prefer to naturalize in Europe because they offer the best deals.

That is the point. A large population size will be completely useless too if there is a high level of corruption, where some skillful and talented players are sidelined and left to practice locally without being given the opportunity to play on a bigger pitch.

I have read some unfortunate stories like these, especially from people from African countries who were deprived of the opportunity to play for their countries. I am not surprised why most of them end up leaving their countries to play for foreign countries.

A country doesn’t just need population to win the trophy; they need a healthy government and all facilities put in place to help players be at their best.

[Ale88]

I am not saying it is never going to happen, but birth rates are no guarantee at all for success in specific kinds of sports. If it was, then India and China would dominate everything. It has to do with culture, with genetics, popularity, a lot of factors. There are sports that I think Europeans will never be better at than the Asians. Birth rates don't matter.

Yes all the top players are to be found in Europe at some point in their careers and this is exactly one problem why I think that Most Asian countries won't just evolve into dominating football nations because as soon as they have a great talent spotted there, it is not going to take long until that talent ends up in Europe too. That means they won't be able to build out highly competitive leagues over a longer period of time, but to have sustainable development and growth in a national team, I think that's important to some degree.

Yes, the Asian players lack in performance compared to the European players and there are number of reasons for this and not just the birth rate or such things. The top Asian talents are quickly funnelled into Europe, and there are pros and cons for the players themselves. These Players would want to develop themselves in the world’s best leagues likes of Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga etc. The dark side of this is that it weakens the domestic leagues like  Japan’s J-League or the South Korea’s K-League. It makes it harder to develop the competitive national teams organically with native only players.

That's how it works everywhere: each country has different sports, and usually one or two are way more popular than others, therefore they invest more money in the infrastructure, facilities, etc, so whoever wants to play among the best goes there. It's like the USA with NBA, probably every European basketball player aims to play in the NBA someday. That helps a lot the national teams.

[tiCeR]

...

Yes, the Asian players lack in performance compared to the European players and there are number of reasons for this and not just the birth rate or such things. The top Asian talents are quickly funnelled into Europe, and there are pros and cons for the players themselves. These Players would want to develop themselves in the world’s best leagues likes of Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga etc. The dark side of this is that it weakens the domestic leagues like  Japan’s J-League or the South Korea’s K-League. It makes it harder to develop the competitive national teams organically with native only players.

That's how it works everywhere: each country has different sports, and usually one or two are way more popular than others, therefore they invest more money in the infrastructure, facilities, etc, so whoever wants to play among the best goes there. It's like the USA with NBA, probably every European basketball player aims to play in the NBA someday. That helps a lot the national teams.

And that is only about the most technical aspects like facilities and high level coaching and other things, but over time a real culture builds around sports that are the most popular. I am not only talking about enthusiasm because I know that for example Saudi Arabians are enthusiastic, but they don't have a football culture that is as intense as that in England, Italy, Germany, Spain, Argentina, Brazil, many other countries.

It would take a lot of time to close that gap and population will never be the driving factor as there is too much evidence speaking against that hypothesis.

[AmoreJaz]

I think besides genetics and talent, access to the best facilities can make a player develop his talent and abilities. I mean we can see how young European players have world-class academies. They have facilities and infrastructure that are very supportive to develop their talents from an early age. I take France for example. France has many players of descent and some of their parents are immigrants who do not have enough money for their daily lives. But in France their children can get good football facilities. That is what makes us see French players who were initially nobodies but played in the World Cup. This is different from some developing countries like in Africa and Asia where even if you have extraordinary talent in football, you do not have the luck to get access for your talent to develop.

That is very true. With the combination of best facilities where they can train and with their talent and passion, they will surely go a long way in the sports. This is indeed important in advancing their athletes and compete in the world stage. Without much support from their respective government, would be hard to attain some achievements especially if they need to support themselves financially. This is why for some teams, they really have good financial support to start training their players at their early age. Because world class players start from their early age to master their craft

[Sithara007]

And that is only about the most technical aspects like facilities and high level coaching and other things, but over time a real culture builds around sports that are the most popular. I am not only talking about enthusiasm because I know that for example Saudi Arabians are enthusiastic, but they don't have a football culture that is as intense as that in England, Italy, Germany, Spain, Argentina, Brazil, many other countries.

It would take a lot of time to close that gap and population will never be the driving factor as there is too much evidence speaking against that hypothesis.

Having good facilities and best trainers can help only up to a certain extent. If that was the case, then Japan should be one of the football super-powers instead of Nigeria and Ghana. In the end, the long-term future of the team depends on players with good fitness levels and athleticism. Asian teams are far behind on this regard. And it would be wrong to say that Asian countries doesn't have a football culture. At least Japan and South Korea do have a football culture, which has been nurtured over the years.

[Ale88]

And that is only about the most technical aspects like facilities and high level coaching and other things, but over time a real culture builds around sports that are the most popular. I am not only talking about enthusiasm because I know that for example Saudi Arabians are enthusiastic, but they don't have a football culture that is as intense as that in England, Italy, Germany, Spain, Argentina, Brazil, many other countries.

Mmm I wouldn't say that Saudi Arabians are enthusiastic about football, I just did a quick research in order to get some real number and, based on ESPN data, the average attendance is a little over 8k people per match. The lowest attendance is 89 people, which is just ridiculous, even when I was a kid and used to play football there were more people watching us play, and here we're talking about a professional league match. Saudi Arabians just see football like a kid sees a toy: it's fun today, tomorrow is less interesting, the day after tomorrow you already forgot about it. I don't want to criticize them, they just have a different culture and interests, that's it.

[retreat]

-snip-
Saudi Arabians just see football like a kid sees a toy: it's fun today, tomorrow is less interesting, the day after tomorrow you already forgot about it. I don't want to criticize them, they just have a different culture and interests, that's it.

Apart from the culture of entertainment consumption in Saudi Arabia tends to focus on trends and momentary sensations. It is also influenced by the inequality between big and small clubs. For example, from what I read, Al Hilal and Al Ahli recorded high attendances, with an average attendance of around 21,824 and 24,370 spectators per match respectively. However, small clubs such as Al-Hazem and Al-Wehda experienced very low attendances, with an average of only 1,671 and 2,633 spectators per match.

They also seem to only bring in big players, but do not have a long-term strategy to build a local fan base and improve the quality of their league. And the good infrastructure is only in a few places, but in other places, there are still many open stadiums that are not comfortable for spectators.

So these problems make football in Saudi Arabia just like momentary entertainment, not like the European leagues where not only is the quality of their infrastructure good, but also the fans of these clubs have an emotional connection with their favorite clubs.

[banana33]

-snip-
Saudi Arabians just see football like a kid sees a toy: it's fun today, tomorrow is less interesting, the day after tomorrow you already forgot about it. I don't want to criticize them, they just have a different culture and interests, that's it.

Apart from the culture of entertainment consumption in Saudi Arabia tends to focus on trends and momentary sensations. It is also influenced by the inequality between big and small clubs. For example, from what I read, Al Hilal and Al Ahli recorded high attendances, with an average attendance of around 21,824 and 24,370 spectators per match respectively. However, small clubs such as Al-Hazem and Al-Wehda experienced very low attendances, with an average of only 1,671 and 2,633 spectators per match.

They also seem to only bring in big players, but do not have a long-term strategy to build a local fan base and improve the quality of their league. And the good infrastructure is only in a few places, but in other places, there are still many open stadiums that are not comfortable for spectators.

So these problems make football in Saudi Arabia just like momentary entertainment, not like the European leagues where not only is the quality of their infrastructure good, but also the fans of these clubs have an emotional connection with their favorite clubs.

they are just forced measures that do nothing but bring discontent to the stadium and the thing is not seen well, I see certain behaviors on the part of these Arabs who believe themselves to be the masters of the world and do not transmit anything to their fans, because they do not exist, then when they go to clash with real teams they are unable to bring home the result even with purchases costing millions of dollars

[tiCeR]

And that is only about the most technical aspects like facilities and high level coaching and other things, but over time a real culture builds around sports that are the most popular. I am not only talking about enthusiasm because I know that for example Saudi Arabians are enthusiastic, but they don't have a football culture that is as intense as that in England, Italy, Germany, Spain, Argentina, Brazil, many other countries.

Mmm I wouldn't say that Saudi Arabians are enthusiastic about football, I just did a quick research in order to get some real number and, based on ESPN data, the average attendance is a little over 8k people per match. The lowest attendance is 89 people, which is just ridiculous, even when I was a kid and used to play football there were more people watching us play, and here we're talking about a professional league match. Saudi Arabians just see football like a kid sees a toy: it's fun today, tomorrow is less interesting, the day after tomorrow you already forgot about it. I don't want to criticize them, they just have a different culture and interests, that's it.

I was trying to be fair and not claim to know that they are not enthusiastic because I think they are, but I added culture to the mix because I have got the impression that there is a higher level of joy and enthusiasm from youngest to old age in the big football nations. Football is indeed the most popular sport in Saudi Arabia. I read that a long time ago and was surprised about it because as you said, it is nowhere near the level of enthusiasm in the biggest football countries. But it doesn't mean they are not enthusiastic at all.

In your last sentence that is where I agree, it is a different culture and it is not as entangled across all social classes and people of all ages. Saudi Arabians can correct us if we are wrong about this, but that is what I believe to understand from the distance.