Edgar Chaps

The FIFA World Cup should be a celebratory moment, an occasion for football fans (or soccer fans, if you will) around the world to congregate – in person or online – to enjoy the sport’s biggest event. Truth be told, the World Cup is one of the great sporting events, all disciplines considered. Now that the 2026 edition has commenced – featuring tripartite hosting duties from Canada, the United States, and Mexico – I reckon with the surprising (or predictable) sensation that I don’t especially care.

From France ‘98 to Can US Mex ‘26

Way, way back in the summer of 1998 I watched my first football matches. Soccer, as it is known in my neck of the woods, was played on school grounds and in physical education classes, but it hadn’t captured the imagination. Ice hockey was, and still is, all the rage in Canada. 

I have a childhood friend who, as early as those teenage years, was more in tune with football and got me into following that memorable World Cup. Zinedine Zidane, Roberto Carlos, Ronaldo (the real one), Alessandro del Piero, all names I had never heard before but I remember to this day. I even bought a replica of the France 98 game ball, which me and my mates utterly destroyed that summer from usage.

Despite how impressive ’98 was and how much I enjoyed soccer suddenly, the fever couldn’t come over me. Truthfully, I didn’t pay close attention to the 2000 European championship. In fact, even Korea-Japan 2002 – which had me watching matches at maddening hours of the day given I live in the Eastern Standard time zone – failed to kick my football interest up to the level where it is today.

That would change in 2023-24 when I at long last took a glance at clubs and domestic leagues. Euro 2004 would also be the first continent-centric tournament I’d follow on TV.

From that point onwards things were never the same. World Cups came and went, as did Euros, African Cup of Nations, the occasional glance at who was playing a Copa America semi-final and final, and lots of domestic league action, supplemented by the UEFA Champions League.

Shifting Winds, Changing Interests

When one is young and more carefree, one can be more inclined to follow sports as much as possible. Back in the 2000s and, to an extent, the 2010s, there genuinely was no issue at following domestic leagues and the Champions League from late August to the following May, then tag along for a World Cup or continental championship literally a few weeks after club activities concluded. 

As time moved ahead and less of it could be devoted to football, things changed a bit. Professional responsibilities meant South Africa 2010, Brazil 2014 and Russia 2018 being mostly underseen, save the big games late in the tournaments and what I could catch on my days off from work.

Qatar 2022 brought things back to what they once were due to the fact that I was paid to write articles about said event. 

All the while, during this time, especially since Russia 2018, new realities entered my mind. More information about the world. A curious personality and a relative willingness to glance at, read, or briefly chat about topics I don’t necessarily know much about, resulted in me understanding the globe a bit more.

And this is where the winds began to change direction, if only subtly at first.

FIFA: Not a Great Body

Virtually any enterprise, business, and even non-profit organizations, can be the target of criticism. Quite often said criticism is be supported by convincing evidence. Few are exempt. It’s not always the same comments, nor always for the same reasons or with the same level of intensity, but most are indeed fair game.

But with FIFA it feels different. Perhaps because I am a sports fan, and of football particularly. Perhaps it’s because FIFA declares itself as a non-profit organization. Maybe it has something to do with football being recognized as the global game. Almost every other sport requires some equipment. Certain activities are weather dependant (skiing in Senegal is a challenge). Not so much football. Only one person needs to bring a ball. The goal posts can be trash cans, tree trunks, back packs, etc. It doesn’t matter.

Those inherent qualities, which pepper the sport with a special brand of romanticism, are what make decisions about which countries host the tournament and how said nations go about preparing the event all the more disheartening. 

As stated, Russia hosted in 2018. That was four years after it annexed Crimea from Ukraine. Qatar welcomed the world in 2022, as it did migrant workers and whilst coming under fire for human rights violations and various other controversies. And now Mexico hosts the current event while gang violence erupts, as does the United States as it tries its darndest to be the least likable version of the itself practically since its independence 250 years ago.

For a non-profit that claims that its objective is to promote the global game and help out football federations in need of a boost (and I’m not suggesting it does neither at all), FIFA is a weird, perplexing body when it comes to where the World Cups are being playing and how host nations manage them.

Yellow Flag Warning

What does all this mean, personally? For one – and this has been true for a few years – I enjoy club football more than nation vs nation events. Clubs bring people together from literally anywhere around the world to achieve a common goal in unison. That has a romanticism about it.

Cheering for a country is the most obvious, base thing a sports fan can do. I get it, don’t get me wrong, but it’s…facile?

The reality is my level of excitement for a new season of English Premier League football and an international tournament haven’t been on comparable levels probably since Brazil 2014.

I also enjoy what I call “summer breaks.” The Champions League is often on the final weekend of May if not the first in June. I’m not necessarily gearing up for more football less than two weeks after that. I have a life and going outside in the summer is fun.

In essence, the World Cup is getting a yellow flag from me. Am I skipping it? It’s bit too late. At the time of writing, I was invited to a friend’s place last night to watch Brazil vs. Morocco. Am I really going to miss the final? Doubtful. If I can catch a Canada match, will I try to watch it? Sure.

But it’s day 4 of the 2026 World Cup and a rainy Sunday, which should be a perfect combo to sink my teeth into the action and yet I’ve chosen to spend my leisure time engaging in other activities. Disenchantment with FIFA, which, in turn, has tarnished football’s romantic quality, means I struggle mightily to muster enthusiasm for the 2026 edition. The tank isn’t bone dry, but those drops are few and at the bottom. 

May the best team win of course, but I won’t know its 2026 World Cup journey very well.