The State of Soccer in the World

Okay, let’s unpack the news in the soccer world. I am gonna start with the World Cup that no one has talked about… the Club World Cup. Trust me, I had to go and search for it to find out the latest tournament updates. It was won by Real Madrid who defeated Saudi club, Al Hilal, in the final. Sound like a strange matchup? Well… because it is. I like the concept behind the club World Cup where you have the best club from each continent and the host country compete in a tournament for club superiority. It’s a cool concept that could feature a U.S. soccer team pitted against a club from Morocco, but honestly it feels like another money grab from FIFA. That’s been my biggest complaint with FIFA for the past… well… forever. It’s hard to be a soccer fan for an organization that literally only cares about the profit. Why else do you think that the most recent World Cup was in Qatar? It’s obvious that it was a big cash grab for FIFA, and unfortunately that’s all they seem to care about lately. Yet, as I watched some of the club World Cup games, I couldn’t help but notice how strongly each team was playing and how emotional every player was. Honestly, I had been assuming that this was going to be a blow off tournament for Real Madrid, and even though they blew out the majority of their competition, the passion was completely there. With the next few club world cups being expanded, it certainly does feel like FIFA will exploit this unique tournament, but I hope that fans all over will be able to experience this tournament where the whole world is involved.

The other major pieces of soccer news that have been circulating the past few weeks are both the re-proposed European Super League and the Manchester City breach of spending rules. Let’s start with the proposed revamp of the European Super League. Let me get this straight; I absolutely hate this proposal, and I’ve always hated this proposal. While yes, the games would be incredibly exciting week in and week out, however, it would totally kill smaller clubs across all of Europe. This proposal would just be for the best clubs across mainly England, Spain, and Italy, among a few others. But honestly, this is why we have the Champions League. To me, it makes no sense to create a whole new league just so a bunch of rich clubs can show off every week. Domestic leagues would probably be killed off and international competitions would most likely suffer the same fate. It’s good to know that I agree with the majority of European fans when we say that this is a bad idea. Okay, before I continue ranting about that, let’s briefly talk about Manchester City’s breach of the spending rules. Listen, when clubs do this sort of thing, the first thing I wonder is, “How did you think that you wouldn’t get caught?”. Whatever their punishment may be, it’ll no doubt cause a lot of anger to the City fans. It would be a little ironic if their Premier League title in which Sergio Aguero scored the last second goal to go ahead of Manchester United got stripped. Or, if they get points deducted of the table for this season, it would be a win for me as I am a big Arsenal fan.

For the last major piece of soccer news is that the debut of STLSC is just days away. I for one cannot wait for the debut of this team. I have waited a long time for St. Louis to get their acknowledgement as a soccer city, and with a major league team finally coming here it finally feels normal. While getting tickets to their games might be a hassle, this team will bring a sports joy to this city that hasn’t been felt for a few years. I honestly am not crazy optimistic as they are a debuting team and most likely won’t place very well this year, but the joy of a new soccer team will bring so much fun and excitement. For now, the next blog post will feature news about the upcoming Women’s World Cup, the Champions league, and whatever else happens in the world of this crazy sport.