The 2026 World Cup
I've been a huge football fan since 2010, and it all started with falling in love with Joachim Löw's Germany in the World Cup. I remember how watching Manuel Neuer made me so interested in the sport that, as a person who was so afraid of football, basketball, and any other sport that includes kicking or throwing a ball, I became a goalkeeper after that, pursuing a childhood fantasy to start as Bayern's number one before 25. I had my 25th birthday 4 months ago, and as you might guess based on my blog posts, I failed to start a single second as Bayern's goalkeeper, or any other professional football team around the globe (I made a decent career out of high school competitions though). Yet, my passion for football stayed alive. I used to watch the Champions League with my dad, cried my eyes out after Neuer lifted the cup during lockdowns, and bought a vintage Bayern jersey as soon as I arrived in Shanghai. World Cup itself was another reason for me to cherish football and its insane international impact. I watched most of the games of the 2014 to 2022 World Cups with my dad and brother, as we had an unspoken ritual of watching the games together and enjoying the magnificence of all these cultures coming together for one goal: lifting the most important trophy in the world of football.
This year, however, things have dramatically changed. I still haven't watched a full World Cup game, and I have almost no passion to do so. As an Iranian, I went through so many paradoxical emotions about my own national team that I simply preferred not to follow their results and stay far from the political debate over whether this team is the "Islamic Republic's team" or "Iran's team." Players like Sardar Azmoun and Allahyar Sayadmanesh were arguably cut out from the team due to their political statements during the recent demonstrations, and pro-regime comments have been made by some current members since then. At the same time, I'm quite convinced it's not an easy task to find a team whose players are all politically correct. Joshua Kimmich, captain of Germany, the same team that made me fall in love with football, had some remarks about their political viewpoints before the World Cup in the US, which caught me off guard as it had obvious and absurd contradictions to their actions during the previous World Cup in Qatar, where they "rightfully" criticized the homophobic decisions of Qataris who silenced the pundits. In contrast, Germans determined to "stay out of politics" when it came to the USA, a country that killed hundreds of ordinary people during the war in Iran, and put many limitations on players from countries such as Iraq, DR Congo, Uzbekistan, and etc just because of their nationality, let alone the fact that they literally deported a Somali referee, labelling him as a "terrorist." Infantino gave Trump the FIFA peace prize, and Merz gifted him a German football jersey before the opening ceremony; like we all now should believe that the USA is the peacekeeper of the world.
It is challenging not to consider the politics when everything has become political in the 2026 World Cup. Surely, I would rather be that 10-year-old who enjoyed every minute of the 2010 South Africa and cheered when his national team won in the last minute over Morocco and got a point from Ronaldo's Portugal in the 2018 Russia. Nevertheless, I don't think watching the 2026 World Cup is a morally wrong thing, or supporting Iran's team is an act of evil. I don't think I'm a better person because I don't watch the World Cup, as it is more of a personal choice based on all these factors that overpowered that joy for me. I found it so complicated to judge what fans do during this confusing World Cup, as I'm confident there are people with more love for the game and their national team who can close their eyes and purely appreciate their team's participation. I witnessed how my Colombian friends wake up before sunrise and gather in a bar with other countrymen to watch their game, and what is better than enjoying something with a community who can speak in your language on the other side of the planet? While I've become more and more cynical, I'm still glad that even in this time, you come across motivational stories like Cape Verde's excellent performances or DR Congo's fans showing respect to Patrice Lumumba in the heart of the country that murdered him. It is indeed captivating to notice how fans can still turn the ugliness of politics into something beautiful, and I hope I can say the same thing about our national team or the next FIFA World Cup in 2030.