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

[tiCeR]

...

It is in records that China leader Xi Jinping is a lover of football. He once had a dream to make China a global football powerhouse. The government invested so much in infrastructure and support to local leagues. But this dream was cut short because of corruption and weak Chinese economy. It was discovered that top sports officials were receiving bribes and engaging in match-fixing. Due to the lack of transparency, some private investors lost confidence in the League and withdrew their sponsorship. Many clubs began to shut down because of a lack of financial support.

Saudi Arabia and China have some similarities; they are both under authoritarian governments. The government usually influences the activities of the local league. I have observed that it will be difficult for football to develop under such control. The football governing body needs to be given some level of autonomy for them to build a successful league.

Ok I am not perfectly well informed about how it turned into a problem in China, but from what I read, I knew that something was going utterly wrong and the government intervened and stopped those transfers of highest quality players or same thing as in Saudi Arabia, usually players who have left two or three great years in the tank in an inferior league.

But what I don't understand is why would the government make a cut like that instead of punishing those who were responsible and make clear that taking bribes is not worth it most of the time because the punishment will be brutal? Let me know if I am wrong here, but didin't the government more or less put the football business on ice with massive restriction imposed upon the clubs?

[armanda90]

It is in records that China leader Xi Jinping is a lover of football. He once had a dream to make China a global football powerhouse. The government invested so much in infrastructure and support to local leagues. But this dream was cut short because of corruption and weak Chinese economy. It was discovered that top sports officials were receiving bribes and engaging in match-fixing. Due to the lack of transparency, some private investors lost confidence in the League and withdrew their sponsorship. Many clubs began to shut down because of a lack of financial support.

Saudi Arabia and China have some similarities; they are both under authoritarian governments. The government usually influences the activities of the local league. I have observed that it will be difficult for football to develop under such control. The football governing body needs to be given some level of autonomy for them to build a successful league.

I remember well how China super league evaluation success signing many top European players such as Carlos Tevez, Hulk, Oscar and many other top players leave their top career with European club for playing with China Super League team high salary payment. But China Super League not running well and have one bigger club bankrupt although until right now the CSL keep running as usually but have leave by many top European players.
But bigger investment fund by signing many top players can't bring huge impact for China national team, failed qualify to FIFA World Cup since 2018, 2022 and not sure yet they will qualify for World Cup 2026 after dropping bottom standings awhile at group phase. For infrastructure build up by China's government not doubt anymore but China national team need long term progress for building their national team will qualify to World Cup.

[Slow death]

China is the best example for a country that had no strategy at all, but I think when we say "China", we might be doing injustice because it was the clubs that decided to try it that way, but the government was shutting it down eventually.

In Saudi Arabia the initiative is supported by the government or dictator or whatever you want to call them. I think the interests of the clubs and the ruling people in Saudi Arabia are aligned, if not one and the same actor. That seems to have been different in China.

Yet you are right, it failed miserably in China, and it hasn't had any noticeable effect in Saudi Arabia, but I understand why Saudi Arabia is doing it. They need public attention in the face of becoming the host in 2034. They are at least following an agenda and they don't invest their money in the quality of the players, but in the public attention that these players draw to the country.

It is in records that China leader Xi Jinping is a lover of football. He once had a dream to make China a global football powerhouse. The government invested so much in infrastructure and support to local leagues. But this dream was cut short because of corruption and weak Chinese economy. It was discovered that top sports officials were receiving bribes and engaging in match-fixing. Due to the lack of transparency, some private investors lost confidence in the League and withdrew their sponsorship. Many clubs began to shut down because of a lack of financial support.

Saudi Arabia and China have some similarities; they are both under authoritarian governments. The government usually influences the activities of the local league. I have observed that it will be difficult for football to develop under such control. The football governing body needs to be given some level of autonomy for them to build a successful league.

The saddest thing about all this is that these dictatorial leaders have no real interest in promoting the sport. They want the rest of the world to have a good image of them, which is why they bring foreigners to their football. But they are very afraid of how much freedom they can give to these foreigners who will play in their country. And the players have families.

They are leaving countries with freedom and democracy. It is not easy to live in dictatorial countries. But since they only want to make a lot of money, they go. But as soon as their contract ends and a European team calls them, they accept, even knowing that they will earn less. In my opinion, Saudi Arabia will have the same failure that China had.

[dezoel]

The saddest thing about all this is that these dictatorial leaders have no real interest in promoting the sport. They want the rest of the world to have a good image of them, which is why they bring foreigners to their football. But they are very afraid of how much freedom they can give to these foreigners who will play in their country. And the players have families.

They are leaving countries with freedom and democracy. It is not easy to live in dictatorial countries. But since they only want to make a lot of money, they go. But as soon as their contract ends and a European team calls them, they accept, even knowing that they will earn less. In my opinion, Saudi Arabia will have the same failure that China had.

I have to be agreed with you about this because mostly spend huge funds for success but fail to keep balance and consistency because they have never done work which give them long time success while things needed good involvement from peoples about this. Currently, many countries are doing good job while their system is also had good success in Asian region but as things were done by China and now having in Saudi Arab has never been looking promising Gulf region is had many other issues also which prevent them from having success.

Japan and Korea are having one of the best leagues in Asian region with no other country is having structure like them even many are trying for years but fail while they have good talent few countries are taking good success but due to sanctions and other problems their success is not coming in limelight due to media restrictions.

[Fuso.hp]

I don't think that we need to interpret the hiring of Carlo Ancelotti in such a way. There is no unwritten rule that the Brazilian team can be only coached by native Brazilians. The coach should be the one who is most suitable for the role, and that is it. And there is nothing wrong in experimenting a bit, given the downward slide of the Brazilian team lately. Their performance was pathetic during the 2022 FIFA World Cup, and a repetition of this in 2026 would be devastating for their fans.

Even though Ancelotti is one of the most respected coaches in the world, we cannot deny that the public is quite disappointed with the appointment of a non-Brazilian coach. Especially with what he did to Real Madrid, where the performance was not so good this season, it is not something to be proud of when he will come to the Brazilian national team. So it is very natural that some Brazilians, even the President of Brazil himself, showed their disapproval of the CBF's decision to bring a foreign coach to train their proud national team. But even so, we do not know what will happen in the future, maybe Ancelotti's approach can be better for the Brazilian national team (or worse) so just give him time and we'll see.

I also don't see the choice of giving the position of such an important national team as Brazil to an Italian coach, even if Ancelotti is the best currently on the market and above all he knows the players because he already trained them at Real Madrid, so they are certainly more advantaged, but I would also have chosen a Brazilian coach

It is a big deal that Brazil has been able to get out of this policy because it used to be that Brazilians thought that if a manager from another country takes charge of their country's football, their country's football would never progress, but their idea has been proven wrong. Brazil has played a lot of bad football in the last few years, so the CBF has been forced to appoint an experienced manager from another country to their team. Ancelotti is a great manager, so under him, Brazil will return to a series of good performances, but we as Brazil fans can expect that. This manager should leave all political issues behind and give the opportunity to those who will perform well for the team to play in the team, so that Brazil can be seen performing well again.

[retreat]

-snip-

Saudi Arabia and China have some similarities; they are both under authoritarian governments. The government usually influences the activities of the local league. I have observed that it will be difficult for football to develop under such control. The football governing body needs to be given some level of autonomy for them to build a successful league.

Although China and Saudi Arabia have some similarities in this regard, I see that Saudi Arabia is slightly different compared to China in the development of their domestic league. From what I read, the Chinese super league is supported mostly by the private sector to seek political support. They also don't have a long-term plan to develop their league - it's just ambition without a proper plan for the future. They are also very lacking in the development of young talent, coupled with the chaos of their real estate sector, it makes some clubs have financial problems.

So it's different from the SPL, which is directly supported with centralized funding and a national strategy for long-term development. They also pay attention to the development of their young talent and the competitiveness of their league. Even though it is still far from surpassing the European league, but at least their condition is better than the CSL, even other Asian leagues.

[Ale88]

-snip-

Saudi Arabia and China have some similarities; they are both under authoritarian governments. The government usually influences the activities of the local league. I have observed that it will be difficult for football to develop under such control. The football governing body needs to be given some level of autonomy for them to build a successful league.

Although China and Saudi Arabia have some similarities in this regard, I see that Saudi Arabia is slightly different compared to China in the development of their domestic league. From what I read, the Chinese super league is supported mostly by the private sector to seek political support. They also don't have a long-term plan to develop their league - it's just ambition without a proper plan for the future. They are also very lacking in the development of young talent, coupled with the chaos of their real estate sector, it makes some clubs have financial problems.

So it's different from the SPL, which is directly supported with centralized funding and a national strategy for long-term development. They also pay attention to the development of their young talent and the competitiveness of their league. Even though it is still far from surpassing the European league, but at least their condition is better than the CSL, even other Asian leagues.

The SPL is spending a ton of money because they wanted to host the World Cup, and they will. I just wonder what is going to happen after the competition will be over because we already saw the same exact story with Qatar: they pay a lot of money for the players, they get European coaches, and what is left after the World Cup? Almost nothing, the national team improved compared to the past but now they are not investing as they used to.

[Volgastallion]

I dont know what happens with China main idea for developing the football, when 10 years ago they start putting serious money i think to myself "well this time they come serious and in a few years we are gonna see a China being a power in football", but as we can see neither of this ended up happening and sudenly they stop putting money on football.

[ShowOff]

The SPL is spending a ton of money because they wanted to host the World Cup, and they will. I just wonder what is going to happen after the competition will be over because we already saw the same exact story with Qatar: they pay a lot of money for the players, they get European coaches, and what is left after the World Cup? Almost nothing, the national team improved compared to the past but now they are not investing as they used to.

Saudi will host the 2034 World Cup, which means nine years from now. If Saudi investment were solely focused on the World Cup, it would seem they are starting too early. However, looking at the development of the Saudi Pro League, especially with the clubs under the Public Investment Fund (PIF), it appears Saudi is very serious about investing in the long term, not only want to appear dominant in the World Cup.

Several other Saudi Pro League clubs are also starting to actively recruit former top European players, which indicates that Saudi is doing a better job than Qatar. The 2026 and 2030 World Cups will provide a clear picture of how the Saudi national team is developing after spending a significant budget to grow their football.

[sana54210]

Saudi will host the 2034 World Cup, which means nine years from now. If Saudi investment were solely focused on the World Cup, it would seem they are starting too early. However, looking at the development of the Saudi Pro League, especially with the clubs under the Public Investment Fund (PIF), it appears Saudi is very serious about investing in the long term, not only want to appear dominant in the World Cup.

Several other Saudi Pro League clubs are also starting to actively recruit former top European players, which indicates that Saudi is doing a better job than Qatar. The 2026 and 2030 World Cups will provide a clear picture of how the Saudi national team is developing after spending a significant budget to grow their football.

They have not started this early, or suddenly they have done good work behind scene for this and have good success as they won rights for FIFA World Cup 2034 because now Gulf is having good hub of sports first UAE then Qatar and now Saudi Arab spending huge funds for development and changing their culture which is one of the difficult things.

Saudi Pro League is having good and long history, but recently they bring changes and have the good number of foreign players which are increasing their fan base and also bringing good awareness about this game into their country in coming 10 years many changes will be happened, and they could be able to secure good strategy and better structure for soccer which is main target right now. While their target is not only soccer now they are also interested to invest in Tennis and Cricket which is also good for them, but surely they needed to be done good work which is never been easy.

[Volgastallion]

I hope not to see another world cup in the middle east, its not so good for football it hink, i feel like the world cups needs to be hosted in and for proper football countries, is better for the fans, i dont want to go into a full marketing world cup without any spirit, i want to be in a hsitorical football place.

[stompix]

China tried to use the same strategy of bringing in an experienced foreign-based player to develop their local league, but it failed to bring the needed improvement. After investing so much in several expensive players, the Chinese Football League failed woefully.

China is different the CCP didn't like that money from the country was being taken out, it didn't like how local governments were spending millions on foreign players, so they put a new tax in place, just two years since the major investments, for every player over 5 million you have to pay another 5 million in donations to the CFP, not only that but they cut local governments funding putting again limits.
Then, just barely 3 years after that's Covid came....
And if that was not enough, the CCP started a campaign against flaunting wealth and overpaid celebrities.

So unless the royal family does he same in Saudi Arabia there is still hope a huge influx of players might change the league.

[Lida93]

Its good for Saudi football and players to ahve a lot of foreigns in their teams and leagues, i mean for upgrade your football when you arent naturally good you need some bar to measure, so when this competitive players from europe comes makes your players level up to catch the rythm, so this after a few years makes your football and players much better overall.

Now your players are acustomed to play against high level players and they are not gonna suffer when they play against it in national team competitions.

Incorporating foreign players into the Saudi Pro  league isn't a bad idea but what is the approach and what generation of the foreign players that they are bringing into their domestic league? If they're employing the services of players whose age are close to retirement in their football career then they might not achieve their objectives towards making their league outstanding just as those elites leagues in Europe. Although it might improve the performance of their indigenous players at national level of world tournaments like the world cup but won't be of any improvement in selling their domestic league. Am sure someone has given an exam of China to you.

[Slow death]

So unless the royal family does he same in Saudi Arabia there is still hope a huge influx of players might change the league.

The Saudis have a lot of money, but they don't have infinite money. The high salaries they are paying will not be able to be maintained for long. Furthermore, many players and TV channels only started paying attention to this league because Cristiano Ronaldo moved to this league, but Ronaldo's team did not win the league.

This affects Ronaldo, and since he is a very competitive player and the Saudis really like attention, I see that there is now a chance that Ronaldo will leave this league. The Saudis will also not want to continue paying Ronaldo the same salary, and Ronaldo will not want his salary to be lowered. So if Ronaldo leaves the team this season or in the future, he will take with him all the attention he brought to this league and people will stop talking about this league. I highly doubt that this thread will talk much about this league if Ronaldo leaves.

[stompix]

So unless the royal family does he same in Saudi Arabia there is still hope a huge influx of players might change the league.

The Saudis have a lot of money, but they don't have infinite money. The high salaries they are paying will not be able to be maintained for long. Furthermore, many players and TV channels only started paying attention to this league because Cristiano Ronaldo moved to this league, but Ronaldo's team did not win the league.

Ronaldo gets 200m/y, let's assume his majesty wants to spend 1% of his wealth on football and so he has enough for a whole team of Ronaldos for 10 years 
Also, we're not counting ignoring that they made 120 million from sponsors alone, this does not include tv rights and other media and merchandise, plus a 20% tax on that wage that goes back to their coffers.

A few players won't bankrupt them even if they pay them this much, when you're building a 9 trillion city 200m a year is peanuts.

The Saudis will also not want to continue paying Ronaldo the same salary, and Ronaldo will not want his salary to be lowered.

Who's going to pay him this much in any other country? And don't forget he pays only 20% in tax in SA, if he goes to Liverpool and earns 200m/a year, he will only make 110 after tax.

[Slow death]

So unless the royal family does he same in Saudi Arabia there is still hope a huge influx of players might change the league.

The Saudis have a lot of money, but they don't have infinite money. The high salaries they are paying will not be able to be maintained for long. Furthermore, many players and TV channels only started paying attention to this league because Cristiano Ronaldo moved to this league, but Ronaldo's team did not win the league.

Ronaldo gets 200m/y, let's assume his majesty wants to spend 1% of his wealth on football and so he has enough for a whole team of Ronaldos for 10 years 
Also, we're not counting ignoring that they made 120 million from sponsors alone, this does not include tv rights and other media and merchandise, plus a 20% tax on that wage that goes back to their coffers.

A few players won't bankrupt them even if they pay them this much, when you're building a 9 trillion city 200m a year is peanuts.

The Saudis will also not want to continue paying Ronaldo the same salary, and Ronaldo will not want his salary to be lowered.

Who's going to pay him this much in any other country? And don't forget he pays only 20% in tax in SA, if he goes to Liverpool and earns 200m/a year, he will only make 110 after tax.

This movement by the Saudis is doomed to failure from the start. If I were the Saudis, I would start valuing the domestic players more, paying them the same salaries as they pay the foreigners. I think this would be a good motivation and would show a high level of patriotism. As you said, they have a lot of money. It wouldn't be a big problem for them to pay high salaries to the local players.

Ronaldo is 40 years old, next year he will be 41. His body is aging. The TV channels won't spend a lot of money paying to broadcast an old Ronaldo. People won't want to watch a tired Ronaldo on the field either. Without Ronaldo, this league will return to anonymity. The Saudi national team will always be a failure. The Arabs' big money is only for entertainment, nothing more.

[DaNNy001]

I dont know what happens with China main idea for developing the football, when 10 years ago they start putting serious money i think to myself "well this time they come serious and in a few years we are gonna see a China being a power in football", but as we can see neither of this ended up happening and sudenly they stop putting money on football.

With have happened china, I think the same fate will also happen to the Saudi Arabia approach because I feel building a football power and mentality in football isn't that easy although it looks kinda different because the Saudi National team aren't that bad when it comes to football and the football mentality is kinda changing over there but overall asian countries are that into football if you ask me and the same china is a typical example as they are good in other areas of sport.

[imamusma]

I dont know what happens with China main idea for developing the football, when 10 years ago they start putting serious money i think to myself "well this time they come serious and in a few years we are gonna see a China being a power in football", but as we can see neither of this ended up happening and sudenly they stop putting money on football.

With have happened china, I think the same fate will also happen to the Saudi Arabia approach because I feel building a football power and mentality in football isn't that easy although it looks kinda different because the Saudi National team aren't that bad when it comes to football and the football mentality is kinda changing over there but overall asian countries are that into football if you ask me and the same china is a typical example as they are good in other areas of sport.

Saudi Arabia seems more serious when deciding to invest in football, their financial strength is much stronger compared to China. Saudi Arabia started better, when they managed to get Ronaldo, a megastar who made the Saudi Pro League popularity increase drastically. Saudi clubs also do not continue to try to tempt top European players, and offer contracts with sometimes unreasonable values. This will automatically make them continue to be talked about, and indicate that they have not stopped investing. Saudi appointment as the host of the 2034 World Cup can also be considered a form of their seriousness, China has never gone as far as Saudi.

[CLS63]

Do you think Ronaldo will really play in the upcoming World Cup? I don't mean the qualifiers because it is already going to start for Portugal in a couple of months. I mean the main tournament as they would qualify for it easily considering their current group.

He is really getting very old. I know his physical condition is still at an unbelievably good rate for his age. But one year is quite a long time. Maybe he might change his mind. To be honest I don't think Portugal can achieve any trophy in his presence anymore. Because they are playing around him but he wouldn't be as consistent as his prime obviously.

[Ale88]

The SPL is spending a ton of money because they wanted to host the World Cup, and they will. I just wonder what is going to happen after the competition will be over because we already saw the same exact story with Qatar: they pay a lot of money for the players, they get European coaches, and what is left after the World Cup? Almost nothing, the national team improved compared to the past but now they are not investing as they used to.

Saudi will host the 2034 World Cup, which means nine years from now. If Saudi investment were solely focused on the World Cup, it would seem they are starting too early. However, looking at the development of the Saudi Pro League, especially with the clubs under the Public Investment Fund (PIF), it appears Saudi is very serious about investing in the long term, not only want to appear dominant in the World Cup.

Several other Saudi Pro League clubs are also starting to actively recruit former top European players, which indicates that Saudi is doing a better job than Qatar. The 2026 and 2030 World Cups will provide a clear picture of how the Saudi national team is developing after spending a significant budget to grow their football.

Saudi Arabia needs to build an international reputation not only for football but also as a country: until recently tourists were not even allowed into the country unless they had a working or religious visa. And around the world they are known for their very strict laws about women, gays, etc, so they have to change that perception, and that is something that takes years, that's why they are starting now.