The World Cup Was Never Just Football | Season 3 Finale

So it's an interesting question.

I'm glad you asked it because I've

actually been

interviewed over the weekend on pretty much the same topic.

So the difference between this World Cup and the other.

And you know the others in terms of the relation between football and politics.

And you know what we always say on the podcast is that it's really impossible to separate football and politics.

So I think it's a matter of what kind of... interaction we have rather than thinking that there was an ideal moment in history in which football and politics were completely separated and some people seem to pretend that, you know.

Having said that, I think there were in this World Cup a few aspects which are particularly negative in terms of the relation between football and politics.

We're going to discuss some of them.

I think for me the main one is that, or the first one I would start with, is the idea of what a host country should do and what a host country should provide to the countries and their supporters, the countries participating and their supporters, which is incredibly political.

And this World Cup has been, let's be clear about it, it's been a disaster, a shame from this point of view.

I think the first thing we would probably mention is the issue of Iran, right? That's the first one that comes to mind.

So the Iranian team, I don't know how much listeners have followed the issue.

We covered this before the World Cup, didn't we? There was a whole issue of whether the Iranian

team

would be allowed to travel to the US, whether the staff would be allowed to travel, how this affected their preparation.

the Iranian supporters being not able to travel and the role of the Iranian diaspora in some US cities, which traditionally is not exactly pro the current Iranian government, the Iranian regime.

I think it's, from my point of view, it's obviously a quite unique case, the fact that the host country had been waging war on all the participants.

I cannot think of any similar case.

I don't know whether you can.

But obviously it creates a massive problem.

And I think the right of Iran and its Iranian team and their supporters to enjoy the World Cup has not been guaranteed.

And for me, that's a massive problem.

Yeah.