Fixing the Club World Cup

A few years ago, I came up with two ways to fix the FIFA Club World Cup. 

The first one was to rotate the tournament all over the world so that each continent would host it every six years. 

The second one was to only hold the event every four years but to expand the tournament to 24 teams. Each confederation except OFC would get four teams while OFC would get two teams while the final two spots would be reserved for the defending champion and the domestic champion of the host nation. For group stage play, the confederation champions would be tossed into randomly selected groups.

As it turned out, FIFA has its own plans.

From Wikipedia: 

AFC (Asia): 2.5 (two of which will be allocated to the finalists of the AFC Champions League and the half slot will be contested in a play-off between the two losing semi-finalists)

CAF (Africa): 3 (will be allocated to the top three teams of the CAF Champions League)

CONCACAF (North, Central America and the Caribbean): 3

CONMEBOL (South America): 6

OFC (Oceania): 0.5

UEFA (Europe): 8

Host nation: 1 (will be allocated to the winner of the Chinese Super League, with FIFA to decide the course of action should they qualify through the AFC Champions League)

The tournament will feature 24 teams, with a play-off between the OFC representative and the 3rd-best Asian team (other than China's champion club, which automatically qualifies as host country representative) to determine the final entrant. The teams will be split into eight groups of three teams each. The winners of the eight groups will advance to the quarter-finals, which will use a knockout format to determine the champions.

A bigger problem

The recent blowback where MLS owners blocked their own fans from combatting fascism and racism is part of a bigger structural problem in American soccer. Many of the owners are NFL guys who just happen to own MLS teams and their ideological affiliations are much closer to the POTUS than the people who attend the games.

Franchised/single entity/closed leagues are exclusionist for a reason, so these enthusiastic soccer fans need to push for an open system that includes every club and allows for community-based teams that reflect the fans’ values.

If people in MLS markets really care about soccer, they need to turn their backs on the league and start backing lower tier clubs outside of USL since MLS and USL are part of the same soccer cartel that is ruining things for the bottom portion of the pyramid.

Here in North Carolina, NCFC is trying to move from its current taxpayer funded stadium in Cary by urging county and local officials to build a new taxpayer funded stadium just south of downtown Raleigh. Steve Malik is no longer guaranteeing that capital city will even get an MLS team, which makes the idea of a new stadium even more ridiculous and it was a good thing that the Wake County commissioners passed on funding that stadium. I don’t know if the Raleigh City Council will be as strong in resisting.

As a result, I am far more likely to support one of the UPSL teams—Lazers SC, SOSA FC or Raleigh International FC—instead.

People in Atlanta can rally behind Atlanta SC or Georgia Revolution FC of the NPSL or the likes of a team (LSA Pro) or an entire conference (Atlanta Caribbean) in the UPSL if Atlanta United won’t do right.

The people in the NY metro area aren’t short of options to back instead of the two MLS franchises. If the Cosmos aren’t your cup of tea, support another NPSL squad, rally behind a UPSL club, go to a Long Island Soccer Football League game or attend a Cosmopolitan Soccer League match.

Out west, where things really got heated during the August 23 match between the Timbers and the Sounders. Rather than buying a ticket, Timbers fans should have stayed away from CenturyLink Field and in the future dump the team in favor of FCM Portland or PDX FC (both in the NPSL).

The same goes for Sounders fans protesting fascism and the halfhearted responses from the Pacific Northwest teams and the league. The NPSL’s OSA Seattle FC and Crossfire Redmond as well as the UPSL’s Seattle City Pro would appreciate your presence.

FIFA is worse than the Mafia

At first, I was ready to compare FIFA to the Mafia, but that whole thing about Sepp Blatter providing essential services to Third World countries turned out to be a lie as the AP explained it.

The results spell out the unsettling truth

• No trickling down of money to minor leagues
• Youth players (i.e. supposed future World Cup stars) using old equipment
• The inability of semipro players being unable to buy equipment or play on an appropriate field because soccer officials in some countries would rather pay their executives to stay in lavish hotels

Secession Olympics

Political and cultural schisms seem to be the rage. Belgium set a record for political instability when it couldn't form a government for 536 days between 2010 and 2011 due to rifts between French-speaking Wallonia and Flemish-speaking Flanders. Closer to home, Quebec may or may not hold yet another secession referendum over the next 5-10 years. And there's America with its blue states vs. red states narrative. Given that Scotland is set to vote on secession from the United Kingdom next Thursday, I'll take a look at how these secession movements could affect sports.

U.S.

Here in this country, the rift between so-called blue and red states has widened. If tensions make unity impossible, then the following will happen:

• American dominance in the Summer Olympics would come to an end as China would take over. Meanwhile, the Blue and Red Zones could spend more time trying to one up each other and rooting against their ideological opposites
• Based on how many conservatives railed against the World Cup 2-3 months ago amid the possibility of the United States embracing soccer on a wider scale, the Red Zone would not field a competitive men's team on the worldwide scale and would only play a spoiler role in terms of World Cup qualifying, but, it would field a very viable women's team due to the strength of certain colleges. The Blue Zone would field very competitive men's and women's teams and the latter would create quite the rivalry for the Women's World Cup
• The NBA, NFL, and MLB could either split up into separate Red and Blue Zone Leagues or remain as is
• The NCAA would remain in the Red Zone, creating a mess for all of the colleges who field major sports teams. Bowl games and the NCAA basketball tournament could get very dicey every December and March

 

UK

The nation has for decades fielded four separate national teams for non-Olympic competition. When it comes to the Olympics, Scottish secession could be quite big. When the Summer Olympics were in London two years ago, Scotland claimed 13 of Britain's 65 total medals (20%). Earlier this year in Sochi, the Scots won half of Great Britain's four medals. Speaking of the Winter Games, all of the curlers hail from Scotland, so future British teams may not even qualify for the Olympics.

The Open Championship would no longer have the fabled St. Andrews golf course

Canada

The Great White North has its own problems with secession brewing. An independent Quebec could quite possibly spell the end of Canada because Ontario isn't connected to any of the Atlantic provinces. Out west, some or all four of the provinces could either form their own independent nation, remain with the other English-speaking provinces and territories, or join the U.S. The Atlantic provinces would most likely have to join the U.S. since they'd be too small to make it on their own.

The dissolution of Canada would mean the following for its sports:

• All of the federal government's efforts to make Canada more competitive in international sports would evaporate overnight
• The tension between Quebec and what's left of English-speaking Canada would run deep in the Winter Olympics--especially in hockey and curling
• Speaking of hockey, the NHL would basically become an American league or splinter off into separate American, Quebec, and Canadian leagues. There would be multiple new leagues depending on how deep the split is following Quebec's departure from the Dominion. The hockey leagues would be so distinct that the Stanley Cup may revert back to its original position of a competition between the champions from each league
• There's a chance that an English-only Canada could still field a competitive soccer teams on both the men's and women's sides, but if the English provinces and territories are too splintered, there's no chance on the men's side. Quebec wouldn't field a competitive team at all

Continental Europe

Spain's government is threating to block a referendum Catalonians are holding November 9. The secession effort is a threat to the Spanish state because if there's an independent Catalonia, then the Basques will be next ones to ask for independence. Barcelona--currently Spain's largest city--is in Catalonia. The breakup would be a potentially devastating blow not only to the Spanish state but also to soccer as La Liga would lose two of its money making teams.

The breakups of Spain and Belgium could result in more soccer leagues and Olympic teams because other nations could then follow. This map on Europe is a mark of what the most radical secessions could do.

Thoughts on 2022 World Cup snub

Maybe it was a good thing that the 2022 World Cup didn't go to the U.S. Given that an already poisonous political climate could become nuclear, maybe it made sense to not give a major international event to a country that could be forced to withdraw from due to an ideological civil war. This really applies to the 2018-22 Olympic Games if America wins bidding for any of those events. It's been said that sports can bring a country together, but the reverse could also be true--arguing about political issues also have the potential to further tear a nation apart. A possible hint of the latter scenario took place last year as conservatives openly cheered Chicago's elimination on the first ballot of the 2016 Summer Olympics bidding.