There are 200+ participating countries. Many of those are on his side, because they’re tiny and easy to bribe: a few million is significant for them and often that money can be siphoned into corrupt pockets.
replyThat said, a World Cup without any of the 55 UEFA countries wouldn’t make sense commercially.
But the USA men might finally do well!
replyDepending on whether the South American teams show up…
I’ve bad news for you: Concacaf has also unanimously spoken against the plan. :-)
reply(Though AFAIK they haven’t yet threatened a boycott.)
I like this map:
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Two world wars and one world cup...
replyThe heads of Football Associations of tiny countries who took enormous bungs to vote for him and then spent the money on some facilities but mostly themselves
replyKushner
replyTrump and his family.
replyHis son in law is running the investment firm https://apnews.com/article/world-cup-fifa-investors-kushner-...
In turn Trump wants to nominate Infantino for Secretary General of UN https://www.euronews.com/2026/07/22/trumps-pick-for-the-next...
There is nothing this family does not see as an opportunity for corruption. Comically evil.
replyas an opportunity for profit*
replyI think it’s important to clarify the incentives at play, people are rarely evil for the sake of being evil
I think the evil part is the [at any cost] part, the incentives are irrelevant. An AI that only wants to make paperclips isn't evil because of the paperclips.
reply> Sepp Blatter weighed in, writing on X: "The close relationship between the Fifa president and the US President [Donald Trump] has reached a financial dimension that is deeply damaging football. No-one has the right to sell our game."
replySepp Blatter for crying out loud.
Blatter was corrupt to the core but cared about the actual sport if you look at his record. This new president is like a james bond villian caricature like he actually wants to destroy the sport.
replyWho better to recognize corruption?
replyThat's like John Gotti saying Al Capone was corrupt.
replyIt takes one to know one, yep.
replyThe companies that want a piece of FIFA, I assume.
replyEdit: I just realized you meant who here on hn, in which case I assume the hardcore capitalists/libertarians. But they can speak for themselves.
On HN? The capitalist/libertarian/Elon posters, Meta employees, etc.
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