This is an internal power struggle between the United States and the European Union, in which China has little say. On July 30 local time, the European football governing body UEFA and its 55 member associations voted to "boycott all FIFA international competitions." UEFA issued a statement saying: "We unanimously and clearly reject FIFA's proposal to transfer ownership rights of the World Cup and other international football events to private investors."
It appears that reforms to FIFA competitions directly involve core interests in the geopolitical rivalry between the U.S. and Europe. Looking at the recent World Cup, the teams in the quarterfinals were essentially all from Europe and the Americas—three of the four semifinalists were European, with only Argentina representing the Americas. Theoretically, Europe holds stronger technical prowess in football, yet the FIFA president tends to favor the United States.
The most notorious example is when Trump directly intervened in a match, overturning a red card already shown to an American forward by granting him a "deferred red card" ruling—a first in the history of the World Cup since the introduction of the yellow and red card system in 1970. This caused widespread outrage among fans worldwide and stands as clear evidence of political interference in football.
This decision directly impacted Belgium’s match under UEFA, triggering strong protests and dissatisfaction from both Belgium and UEFA. Although Belgium eventually retaliated with a decisive victory over the United States, if Belgium had lost this game, UEFA and Belgium would certainly not have let it go quietly. However, for us, since we are unlikely to break through Asia and qualify for the World Cup anyway, this power struggle between FIFA and UEFA has little relevance to us.
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1872192768091139/
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.