{"id":7922,"date":"2026-07-31T04:33:58","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T04:33:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=7922"},"modified":"2026-07-31T04:33:58","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T04:33:58","slug":"how-to-explain-the-complex-emotional-backlash-that-started-soccers-global-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=7922","title":{"rendered":"How to explain the complex emotional backlash that started soccer\u2019s global war"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<p>\n            \u201cThis is our game, not their game.\u201d\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            J\u00fcrgen Klopp spoke for millions of global fans when condemning President Donald Trump\u2019s apparent string-pulling to overturn US star Folarin Balogun\u2019s suspension for a critical World Cup game.\n    <\/p><p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=7914\">GOP Senate nominee ends press conference after questions on ties to White nationalist influencer<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n            The new German national soccer coach\u2019s insight into the psyche of football\u2019s devotees is now the best way to understand the game\u2019s new storm \u2014 FIFA\u2019s plan to sell shares in future World Cup events.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            This would always have been contentious. It\u2019s especially so in the emotionally charged aftermath of spectacular World Cup finals in North America.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            But the backlash is being supercharged by one thing: There\u2019s a Trump factor.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            The reported involvement of Joshua Kushner, brother of Trump\u2019s son-in-law Jared, turned a sports business story into a reprise of the uproar ignited by the president this summer.\n    <\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-medium_large\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Joshua Kushner speaks during the Hill &amp; Valley Forum at the US Capitol Visitor Center Auditorium in Washington, DC, on April 30, 2025.\" class=\"wp-image-7919\" height=\"512\" src=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/c5a01bd65e8ba8931a4e872b399cdee1.jpg\" width=\"768\" srcset=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/c5a01bd65e8ba8931a4e872b399cdee1.jpg 768w, https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/c5a01bd65e8ba8931a4e872b399cdee1-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<span>Joshua Kushner speaks during the Hill &amp; Valley Forum at the US Capitol Visitor Center Auditorium in Washington, DC, on April 30, 2025.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n<figcaption>Brendan Smialwoski\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n            There\u2019s no confirmation that Trump is involved. And there\u2019s nothing illegal about FIFA\u2019s plan \u2014 which nevertheless prompted European nations Thursday to threaten a future World Cup boycott. Other global federations, including the one governing the sport in North America, also registered opposition.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            But football followers are primed for suspicion because of Trump\u2019s meddling over Balogun; his crashing of world champ Spain\u2019s on-pitch victory party; and his bromance with world soccer supremo Gianni Infantino, which culminated in the extraordinary decision to award the president the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            \u201cWhere will they stop?\u201d the front page of French sports daily L\u2019Equipe blared this week over a photo composite of Trump, Infantino, the glistening golden World Cup trophy and dollars floating in the air.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            FIFA says its scheme will unleash millions in cash, including from US investors, for grassroots football development \u2014 especially in poorer nations like Cape Verde, which wove a World Cup fairy tale. It may be more welcomed in emerging soccer hotbeds in Africa and Asia than in Europe.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            FIFA plans to set up a separate subsidiary \u2014 involving private equity investment \u2014 to control the commercial and operational rights of its events. But UEFA, the governing body of European football, says the arrangement is immoral and that FIFA doesn\u2019t have the right to sell off \u201cwhat they merely hold in trust for the next generation.\u201d\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            The showdown plunged football into a global civil war. Opponents fear new investors are buying the power to influence the sport; make World Cups \u2014 which are special because they happen only every four years \u2014 more frequent; and even modify the rules in pursuit of money. The UEFA boycott would affect the next women\u2019s World Cup next year and could deprive the next men\u2019s showcase of titans Spain, Italy, France, Germany and England.\n    <\/p>\n<h2>\n        The values that still linger in soccer\u2019s heartlands\n<\/h2>\n<div>\n<div>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-medium_large\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Former Liverpool head coach J\u00fcrgen Klopp takes a selfie on the sideline at the end of the 2026 World Cup Group E football match between Germany and Curacao at the Houston Stadium in Texas on June 14, 2026.\" class=\"wp-image-7920\" height=\"512\" src=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/673d12b8423d3ffb2760848c90615b24.jpg\" width=\"768\" srcset=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/673d12b8423d3ffb2760848c90615b24.jpg 768w, https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/673d12b8423d3ffb2760848c90615b24-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<span>Former Liverpool head coach J\u00fcrgen Klopp takes a selfie on the sideline at the end of the 2026 World Cup Group E football match between Germany and Curacao at the Houston Stadium in Texas on June 14, 2026.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n<figcaption>Paul Ellis\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n            It\u2019s not news that Trump is unpopular in Europe. And Infantino is increasingly hubristic; he recently declared the recent World Cup \u201cthe greatest human, social and cultural event that mankind has ever witnessed\u201d \u2014 never mind the invention of the printing press; the Industrial Revolution; political revolutions and religious awakenings; two world wars; the discovery of penicillin; and the moon landing. But many of the fans who abhor Infantino aren\u2019t exactly consistent. They don\u2019t seem to mind the oligarchs and repressive Middle Eastern nations who own their clubs when they splash out for the best players.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            But this backlash goes beyond dislike of Trump and Infantino. It\u2019s rooted more broadly in the psychology and insecurities of supporters of the Beautiful Game itself. It reflects an era of political, sporting and emotional dispossession as runaway financial forces globalize a working-class game that handsomely enriches a select few but leaves the masses behind.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            There\u2019s also a perception among some football supporters following the World Cup that FIFA wants to Americanize the game. And these forces reshaping football are not unique. They are the same ones challenging global societies in an age of oligarchs, political strongmen and elites whose decisions shape the lives of millions with far less say in their own fates.\n    <\/p><p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=7906\">Trump says agreement has been reached for \u2018complete disarmament\u2019 of Hamas; Hamas has yet to respond<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n            This is what Klopp seems to be getting at. He proved unusually attuned to football\u2019s emotional lore while manager of Premier League Liverpool \u2014 a club steeped in tragedy and sentimentalism. And he\u2019s tapping into a sense among many soccer fans that something that is sacred, that is theirs, is being taken away and will never be the same. It implied what many fans think: Why should the wealthy and the powerful get to trample the rules and traditions of a game so integral to the lives of so many?\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            This feeling is distilled through football\u2019s deep social and civic heritage. In Rome, Madrid, Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Manchester, Athens, Glasgow, Marseilles, Munich and elsewhere, football clubs are pillars of regional, cultural, social and even religious and national character. They are ways to express class pride and personal identity.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            There\u2019s a saying that you don\u2019t choose your team; it chooses you. Fandom is handed down through generations. \u201cFew of us have chosen our clubs, they have simply been presented to us,\u201d wrote Nick Hornby in \u201cFever Pitch,\u201d his classic 1992 book about the obsession and agony of life as a football supporter. One American equivalent may be the Southern college football teams that come to embody the qualities of their cities and serve as vessels of regional singularity.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            This sense of identity is endemic to soccer in its European heartlands. There, many generations-old stadiums loom over rows of working-class housing, epitomizing the game\u2019s widening inequality as soaring player salaries and massive commercialization alienate the game from its traditional audience.\n    <\/p>\n<h2>\n        Why some longtime fans felt alienated by the latest World Cup\n<\/h2>\n<div>\n<div>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-medium_large\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Argentina fans in the stand look on as Lionel Messi walks over to take a corner kick during the FIFA World Cup 2026 semifinal match between England and Argentina, in Atlanta, Georgia, on July 15, 2026.\" class=\"wp-image-7921\" height=\"506\" src=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/a4a5f5c2a6342102afabf29ba94fb43a.jpg\" width=\"768\" srcset=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/a4a5f5c2a6342102afabf29ba94fb43a.jpg 768w, https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/a4a5f5c2a6342102afabf29ba94fb43a-300x198.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<span>Argentina fans in the stand look on as Lionel Messi walks over to take a corner kick during the FIFA World Cup 2026 semifinal match between England and Argentina, in Atlanta, Georgia, on July 15, 2026.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n<figcaption>Carlos Barria\/Reuters<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n            This summer\u2019s World Cup finals were a huge success \u2014 financially, and on the field. Many overseas fans experienced a side of America beyond headlines about Trump and mass shootings that dominate their news at home.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            But the event also tore at fears of global aficionados that their inheritance was being eroded. These are now being raised again by FIFA\u2019s big financing deal. Take something as seemingly trivial as hydration breaks during games, introduced to cope with high summer temperatures in the Western hemisphere. Many fans see them as an excuse to introduce more commercial breaks, and the intervals jarred with soccer\u2019s conventional continuous flow of play, evoking the stop-start nature of NFL games.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            The same complaints greeted an extended break in the middle of the World Cup Final to accommodate a Super Bowl-style halftime show. Americans might consider the spectacle of Madonna, Shakira and Justin Bieber a more alluring prospect than halftime entertainment in Europe, when fans neck beers below the stands, line up for overflowing urinals or, in the UK, buy pies filled with something optimistically described as meat.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            Football clings to the quaint notion that it \u201cbelongs to the fans.\u201d Variations of this phrase have been on many lips in recent days, including those of new British Prime Minister Andy Burnham, an Everton fan, as he hit out at FIFA\u2019s proposals.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            This is true up to a point. Soccer\u2019s appeal may be uniquely enriched by the tribal displays of supporters \u2014 as empty, echoing stadiums during the Covid-19 pandemic demonstrated. But it\u2019s controlled by billionaire team owners, multimillionaires on the pitch and TV companies that decide kickoff times.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            Still, fans have great power, once roused. This was driven home by the popular revolt that killed another proposal by wealthy tycoons \u2014 for a European Super League in 2021.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            As Bill Shankly, Klopp\u2019s most famous predecessor at Liverpool, put it: \u201cSome people believe football is a matter of life and death. I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that.\u201d\n    <\/p><p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=7904\">Lawyer for Ohio congressman\u2019s ex-wife seeks restraining order against the lawmaker over alleged grabbing incident<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Trump, Infantino, and FIFA\u2019s plan to sell shares in future World Cup events.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7915,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How to explain the complex emotional backlash that started soccer\u2019s global war - Relocation Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=7922\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to explain the complex emotional backlash that started soccer\u2019s global war - 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