Institutional favouritism at the world cup

[leea-1334]

Well did you see England tackle against Ghana and no penalty, no VAR review, nothing absolutely nothing?

Yes, that is a clear penalty, but is that the first time that a penalty has not been given? Does it mean every time a penalty was not given, then it's corruption?
If the penalty had been given, by now the English fans would have been saying they were robbed; now that it was not given, people are saying it was corruption. These things happen in every league or tournament. You can't get 100% of your calls right. There would always be mistakes and controversies, but it doesn't mean everything is a conspiracy.
I have watched about 80% fof the world cup matches so far and I can pick up to 5 cases where it should have been a red card, but it was not given, even happend to the US who is the host country in their oppeining match.

It is not the first time,,, but there is a pattern that in fact has been recognized and called 'reputation' bias. You can even look it up in scientific studies. This may not be pure corruption in a technical sense but it is 100% a root of the problem for the thread title of 'institutional favoritism'. And FIFA has not really fixed it but made it worse with VAR especially.

I love Messi but how many times has he escaped bookings for very clear fouls in these 2 world cups? If you look at this WC alone, referee overlooks or no VAR reviews, surprise surprise it is against the underdog.

This is not conspiracy necessarily but scientifically proven reputation bias, leading to instutitional favoritism. The science proves it and provides the root causes, now football needs to just tackle these bias causes. Simple. Otherwise, it is a loophole for actual corruption.

[Alpha Marine]

I don't agree with you, i believe that there was favoritism in particular with the match against the Netherlands, which was clearly won thanks to the favorable refereeing towards Messi and Argentina in particular, even on handballs not called in favor of Argentina.

Are you talking about the same match where an extra 10 minutes were added, yet the referee didn't end the game even after the 10 minutes had elapsed until the Netherlands equalised? The same match Argentina dominated them till the scored two late goals to tie the game? The same match Argentina pressured in the extra time and should have scored?
Or do you want me to write a list of all the matches I've watched where a penalty should have been given in my POV, but it was not? Let's be serious, please.

This is not conspiracy necessarily but scientifically proven reputation bias, leading to instutitional favoritism. The science proves it and provides the root causes, now football needs to just tackle these bias causes. Simple. Otherwise, it is a loophole for actual corruption.

I've talked about this before.
This could simply be the officials being subconsciously biased.
In the past, a referee would easily give a yellow card to Balotelli or Gatuso, but wouldn't easily give one to Philip Lahm, except it was very obvious.
This is not because Lahm was a big player, but because he rarely ever makes tackles or get in situtaions that he would get a yellow card, while the opposite is the case for players like Gatuso or Ramos.
That is how the human brain works.

A referee can subconsciously be biased to one side, and all or most 50/50 calls may go in favour of him, but that does not mean there is a conspiracy, or if there is a situation that deserves a penalty of red card, he would not give.

During the season, Bellingham said "Fuck off" to the linesman, and he got a red card. His fans and Madrid fans said he shouldn't have been red-carded, that it's a conspiracy. Meanwhile, before then, he had done the same thing, and he was not carded, and the same debate happened.

No matter how you do it, you can't please everybody. Till today, Atelti are still crying over the Alvarez penalty that was overturned because the ball hit his second foot. It's footfall, these things happen.
Till today, all the people complaining about Argentina getting 5 penalties in the last World Cup haven't proved that any of them is not a foul. It's also funny how the same people don't talk about the two penalties that France got in the final. But if it was Argetina that got those two penalties, we would never hear the end of it.

[Orpichukwu]

Curiosity makes us ask a lot of questions. Some can call it rigging; others say favouritism, while some also argue that underground fixing is possible as long as many believe that FIFA is as corrupt as every other big organisation out there. Anything is possible; it could also be that referees are the ones playing favouritism here and FIFA doesn't have any hand in that; it can also be something else.

Some say it was done as a favour because FIFA expected more viewership if he was playing since he's one of the world's most famous players. Would that not be the case?

It's more like it, looking at it from a business point of view. Earlier, before now, there have already been some side bets and debates on whether CR7 will be playing in the World Cup or not. Someone as popular as he is, FIFA might think of making an exception, but there are also rumours online that the decision which was made in favour of CR7 playing was after his dinner with Trump and Saudi Arabia's crown prince suggesting they might have hand on influencing that.

[KTChampions]

Yesterday, after making my comment here, and I was browsing the internet, then I saw some Ghana fans bitter complaining that the match between England and Ghana, the referee robbed Ghana but not awarding a penalty to Ghana and they shows the scene of the action. And if that is true then the referee should be sacked and replaced him a good one.
 You can see the videos from the link.
Cheated.
check here.
And here

I'd love to see what you're linking to, but a link to a FB video?  It seems to me that this is an outdated topic, to put it mildly, also not everyone has an account there, plus for many people this service is banned. However, we do not need further examples to see what we see systematically and constantly. In sports, the commercial side has won, and the "randomness" of sports is corrected with the help of referees, double standards, tricks, etc., when billions are at stake, business is unwilling to take risks.

[Zlantann]

It's more like it, looking at it from a business point of view. Earlier, before now, there have already been some side bets and debates on whether CR7 will be playing in the World Cup or not. Someone as popular as he is, FIFA might think of making an exception, but there are also rumours online that the decision which was made in favour of CR7 playing was after his dinner with Trump and Saudi Arabia's crown prince suggesting they might have hand on influencing that.

Roberto Martínez has always left the door of the Portuguese national team open for Cristiano Ronaldo. He once said that he had never seen a player like him because of his extraordinary ambition and discipline. For me, I think that it was obvious that he would be in the World Cup. Ronaldo met with Donald Trump as one of the Saudi delegates who accompanied the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud. The Portuguese captain is a sports ambassador of Saudi Arabia, so his presence in the meeting was to give Saudi Arabia a good image.

[Oshio-man]

One thing some fans don't understand is that they don't know that the whole world is watching the referee in the field and any wrong doing it will affect the referee in the future, we know that some people know how to keep records and when they will be showing the referee FIFA world cup against so so club and what happened, it will make referee to regret what he or she has done in the past, watching this world cup season I think all the referee are doing well to be fair to both clubs.

[Odusko]

Fans will always have such suspension and accusations against organisers of big tournaments and league like the world cup, so I am not surprised to see fan rasing such claims most especially when big players like Messi and Ronaldo are involved, we have being seeing alot of fans of those two players coming up with different narratives around the happening in the world cup's, but we must know the difference between reality or assumptions like this one.

[LUCKMCFLY]

Lolz. This has happened to Argentina vs Nigeria in one of the World Cup at the group stage, I have not been hearing this for sometimes now. Referees are fun of doing this. Referees are the ones always causing problem in football. As a referee, they should not favour any team and they should officiate unbiased and neutral so that at the end of the match, they will receive praises. Referee was the cause of the AFCON final match problem.

Agreed, but how do we make this end? It's too difficult. Just in that one match where Messi tackled a player from behind and didn't get a red card, that seemed like the first sign of corruption to me. I didn't like it. Ah, but they did let him score a hat trick. So it's more of the same as the last World Cup. I hope CR7 does well, since he's like kryptonite to FIFA.

[snipie]

One thing some fans don't understand is that they don't know that the whole world is watching the referee in the field and any wrong doing it will affect the referee in the future, we know that some people know how to keep records and when they will be showing the referee FIFA world cup against so so club and what happened, it will make referee to regret what he or she has done in the past, watching this world cup season I think all the referee are doing well to be fair to both clubs.

Even in el classico or similar matches in every league, the whole nation is watching it and referees still make obvious mistakes and wrong doing. The club which loses the game, complains in media or by official means for a reason.
I will not discuss further how referees are doing in this World Cup but to be honest this version is different from the others. FIFA used to be very powerful, even against big nations. This time, this body looks empty and just obeying for the supreme leader decision. Infantino pictures with him the whole time is more than any leader.

[Alphakilo]

It's more like it, looking at it from a business point of view. Earlier, before now, there have already been some side bets and debates on whether CR7 will be playing in the World Cup or not. Someone as popular as he is, FIFA might think of making an exception, but there are also rumours online that the decision which was made in favour of CR7 playing was after his dinner with Trump and Saudi Arabia's crown prince suggesting they might have hand on influencing that.

Roberto Martínez has always left the door of the Portuguese national team open for Cristiano Ronaldo. He once said that he had never seen a player like him because of his extraordinary ambition and discipline. For me, I think that it was obvious that he would be in the World Cup. Ronaldo met with Donald Trump as one of the Saudi delegates who accompanied the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud. The Portuguese captain is a sports ambassador of Saudi Arabia, so his presence in the meeting was to give Saudi Arabia a good image.

Big stars in a world competition as this always gets some form of favors from officials even when they make hard tackles or do something that is worth a card but it must not be as glaring and obvious as what Zinedine did by head butting a player to earn a red card and end his career,  but as  long as their offense is minimal and they remain disciplined and respectful to the referee it keeps them in the game, they help make money in more ways than you can imagine.

Besides, these players like Ronaldo and Messi have made a name for themselves from hardwork and consistency on the pitch and have broken and created records that some players dream of and am sure the stadium gets packed to capacity when they feature for their country sides and that means more money like I said.

[Odusko]

Lolz. This has happened to Argentina vs Nigeria in one of the World Cup at the group stage, I have not been hearing this for sometimes now. Referees are fun of doing this. Referees are the ones always causing problem in football. As a referee, they should not favour any team and they should officiate unbiased and neutral so that at the end of the match, they will receive praises. Referee was the cause of the AFCON final match problem.

Agreed, but how do we make this end? It's too difficult. Just in that one match where Messi tackled a player from behind and didn't get a red card, that seemed like the first sign of corruption to me. I didn't like it. Ah, but they did let him score a hat trick. So it's more of the same as the last World Cup. I hope CR7 does well, since he's like kryptonite to FIFA.

Since all those match ringing by refrees are not recorded as against the, and a based on speculations, is new very important to leave it the way it is an stop wasting ur time arguing on this favoritism actions from game's officials and organizers who always act in a way to is clear of their support for one team over the other

[Dogedegen]

There are growing suspicions that FIFA might have made some special deals to place certain countries in more preferential groups and asked referees to support them. For instance many have said Messi should have been given a red card for aggressive tackles and many Argentine played also were aggressive but referees didn't touch the. Instead their opponents were given cards just for speaking at times.

Then there's also the fact that certain countries will be placed at noticeably easier brackets if they pass on the second phase while others will have a notoriously harder path to victory from the start.

That is not a sign of institutional favouritism, individual cases of favouritism does not mean that it is institutional favouritism. Some of those can be individual decisions by referees or other parts of the system, and just because they happen during a particular time as other decision that does not mean that someone on the top decided to institute favourtisim. Remember that big claims require big proof, so to confirm that there is something on institutional levels you need proof of prior agreements or decisions by the people on top that are pushed to the workers such as referees. Suspicious, claims of should or shouldn't is not proof. That is humans trying to find patterns and explanations for randomness in events.

The final straw was FIFA commuting the standard three match ban specifically for Christiano Ronaldo after he was the recipient of a card.

There are some very clear signs of favouritism.

But what about this? Who should get this commutation if not players like him? Do you think that people want to see players like Ronaldo away? This event is also about entertainment, it is not a pure competition that is why it is done in certain ways. So in a way you can see this as FIFA delivering what people want.

[programmer3666]

There are growing suspicions that FIFA might have made some special deals to place certain countries in more preferential groups and asked referees to support them. For instance many have said Messi should have been given a red card for aggressive tackles and many Argentine played also were aggressive but referees didn't touch the. Instead their opponents were given cards just for speaking at times.

I don't believe this conspiracy theory one bit, there is no clear favoritism in the ongoing world cup. The tournament is just starting and people are already looking for a way to discredit FIFA. The world cup cannot be manipulated to favor certain players or teams, it will become obvious and FIFA will be making a mockery of itself. I believe that the referee that did not give Messi red card will have his reasons else he would have been facing disciplinary committee by now.

Honestly, I don't buy all these conspiracy talk either. Referees make mistakes, that is just part of the game. Sometimes calls go your way, sometimes they don't. If FIFA was really fixing things, it would leak out eventually and ruin their reputation. I think people just overreact when their favorite team loses or when a star player gets away with something. Messi gets calls!! Sure, but so do other big names. It's not favoritism, it is just football being football.

[JunaidAzizi]

I don't think it can be an individual error, but you can't call a mistake of a person into a favoritism. Maybe the referee didn't see them, or maybe their opponent's actions were so clear that’s why the referee showed them cards. But you can't say that every decision is just a sign of a deal. Everything is fair, I know that can happen, and sometimes the opponent may claim that the referee or FIFA is favoring one team or player, but that may just be rumors from the opponent to create a scene and nothing else.

[rachael9385]

Initially I didn't want to believe this but with the current rumors about it spreading I think it is actually true but I don't think it is something they can do successfully now that they know that everyone's attention is on it. People have reason to believe that fifa is backing up Messi, I don't really know how true it is but from the way things are going I think it is true.

[Myleschetty]

There are growing suspicions that FIFA might have made some special deals to place certain countries in more preferential groups and asked referees to support them. For instance many have said Messi should have been given a red card for aggressive tackles and many Argentine played also were aggressive but referees didn't touch the. Instead their opponents were given cards just for speaking at times.

There will always be instances where some people will have this impression because of their beliefs, which may or may not be true. Even if all of this is true, FIFA is not involved in every decision the referee who officiates the match?
The ref has the independent right to make a decision, and if something doesn't seem right, the opponent can file an official complaint by writing to FIFA. Anything else is merely an attempt to assign blame for their defeat to someone else.

Then there's also the fact that certain countries will be placed at noticeably easier brackets if they pass on the second phase while others will have a notoriously harder path to victory from the start.

Is the group not choosing using a mechanical device with balls inside to make the decision like the previous World Cup?

The final straw was FIFA commuting the standard three match ban specifically for Christiano Ronaldo after he was the recipient of a card.

There are some very clear signs of favouritism.

Since I didn't watch the game that resulted in his ban, does the punishment have to do with any rules violation?

[alani123]

So today a German player hits a player of Ecuador in the head with his foot while trying to kick the ball, right before scoring, but the goal still counts! That was crazy. The whole Ecuadorian team was rightfully furious.

Many people have justified suspicions that FIFA might be trying to favour the teams that are more famous or from richer countries after seeing stuff like this all the time.

The referee could have at least utilized VAR, literally everyone saw what happened. In Uzbekistan's match against Argentina a goal that followed a foul was disallowed anyway. So what gives here?

[Botnake]

Yes, yes and yes.

Its called childs of Fifa. Actually, not just Messi cause Ronaldo are also can get the same priviliage especially for getting a Penalty -lol. These is not the first time topics.

Is already repeated topics for Fifa favourite.

This is not surprising actually. FIFA has been facing widespread accusations of favoritism and bias, and of course people have probably clear evidences about these as no one can speculate something without having seen it. Happenings like controversial refereeing, and tournament rule changes that could benefit their favorite players are not new to us, they were always like that even before, that's why issues about FIFA do not really die.

[Onyeeze]

One thing some fans don't understand is that they don't know that the whole world is watching the referee in the field and any wrong doing it will affect the referee in the future, we know that some people know how to keep records and when they will be showing the referee FIFA world cup against so so club and what happened, it will make referee to regret what he or she has done in the past, watching this world cup season I think all the referee are doing well to be fair to both clubs.

we cannot said all the referee are doing well do you know that some of the matches some Club or team lost may be as a result of the referee sometimes are also been bias but we we don't know and we find it very difficult to notice them when they are being bias, I will not stand to condemn most of referees because most of them officiate matches based on what they notice in the pitches, so I believe that is the reason why some people especially fans do make noise for the referees to notice so I cannot agree with you that all the referees are good

[logfiles]

It's unfortunate that I have seen this thread late, but I really have to talk about that England vs Ghana match because I watched it. The penalty Ghana was denied towards the end of the match doesn't sit well with my head up to now. I was no fan of either of the teams but even the pundits agreed that that could have easily been a penalty. What is much more sinister is how they never even bother to do any VAR.
Honestly we clearly see through the cracks... Everything just feels rigged/tilted.