If you think sports and politics don’t go hand in hand, you might want to miss Friday’s World Cup draw.
Next summer’s tournament will be the largest in FIFA history. More teams, more games, more fans, more host countries, more host cities, more tickets will be more expensive and you’ll get more money.
The theme will be power and glory, with the front three of Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Donald Trump.
Please make no mistake. Gianni Infantino may be FIFA president, but Trump is the president of the richest and most powerful country in the world and has a very vested interest in the World Cup, which his country will co-host next summer.
Under different circumstances, Friday’s draw would have been held in Las Vegas, but President Trump appears to have other ideas, and that’s why the most powerful men in world soccer, and they’re still nearly all men, are headed this week to Washington rather than the self-proclaimed entertainment capital of the world.
The entertainment provided at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts was typically more intellectual in nature than a middle-aged man pulling a ball out of a glass bowl, but that was before President Trump took over as director in February.
US President Donald Trump and FIFA Director General Gianni Infantino hold the World Cup trophy in the Oval Office of the White House.
Friday’s glamorous raffle will be hosted by supermodel Heidi Klum and comedian Kevin Hart, and will feature performances by Andrea Bocelli, Robbie Williams and Nicole Scherzinger. Village People open the show by singing “YMCA,” the MAGA Trump anthem that last topped the charts when FIFA held the draw for the 1978 Argentina World Cup.
Of course, the only point of the draw is knowing who your team will be playing against, but Trump’s presence at FIFA’s big show would guarantee him not only the front page of Saturday’s newspapers, but also the back.
Expect to see a photo of Gianni Infantino handing over what is being called the first FIFA Peace Prize to President Trump. What it has to do with soccer is anyone’s guess, but Infantino’s philosophy has always been to get as close as possible to the leaders of the countries hosting the World Cup.
With that in mind, no one would rule out the possibility of Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman receiving a prize in the 2034 World Cup draw.
Lotteries, tight schedules, and ticket prices…
As for how the lottery itself works, it’s very simple. Alternatively, things are as simple as possible when 64 teams participate, due to the fact that in the first 48-team World Cup, 22 countries can claim the remaining six spots in the spring play-offs.
The teams were divided into four pots, with England in pot one, Scotland in pot three, and play-off favorites Wales, Ireland and Northern Ireland in pot four.
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Sky Sports chief correspondent Kabe Solhekol has explained how a new ‘tennis seeding’ style draw could be introduced for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, potentially allowing England to avoid playing higher-seeded teams until later in the tournament.
We’ll know who will be in each group of four on Friday, but the game schedule – the venue and kickoff time for each game – won’t be announced until Saturday afternoon.
With the media spotlight shining so brightly on President Trump, it can be easy to forget that this World Cup is also being held in Mexico and Canada. The majority of games (78 games) will be played in the United States, with 13 games each in Canada and Mexico, including the opening game on June 11 in Mexico City.
From then on, the game unfolds densely and rapidly. Group games will run until June 27th, with four matches played per day from June 13th to June 23rd instead of the usual three.
An additional 16 countries and 40 matches will be added, along with a new round of 32 for the top two teams in each group and the top eight teams in third place. The games will be played over a total of 33 days, with the final at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, New York, taking place on July 19, approximately 38 days after the opening game.
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Sky Sports News’ Kaveh Solgekor has explained Cristiano Ronaldo’s “unprecedented decision” to sit out Portugal’s opening match at the World Cup unless he re-offends.
Ticket prices will be a big topic over the next seven months thanks to FIFA’s controversial decision to adopt dynamic pricing. Prices are determined by demand, so expect tickets for particularly high-profile matches to be sold at jaw-dropping prices. FIFA announced that eight per cent of tickets for each match will be set aside for each team by their national associations to be distributed to fans without dynamic pricing.
FIFA’s official ticket resale platform will also be as controversial as dynamic pricing. Tickets can be sold on the platform, the seller sets the price, and FIFA receives a 15 percent commission from the seller and 15 percent from the buyer.
Of course, FIFA will say that it is a non-profit organization and that all the money it makes is reinvested into the game. They’ll say it’s for the games, but it’s also about having as many affordable tickets as possible for as many fans as possible.
So what can we expect from next summer’s World Cup? Spend your money on a suspended Ronaldo, high temperatures, expensive tickets, huge NFL stadiums, and what Infantino declared “the best World Cup ever” when it’s all said and done.
