{"id":407,"date":"2026-06-07T14:41:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T14:41:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=407"},"modified":"2026-06-07T14:41:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T14:41:10","slug":"the-absurd-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=407","title":{"rendered":"The Absurd World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

It\u2019s hard to imagine<\/span> a more fraught combination for what was supposed to be a fun Friday night: Seattle\u2019s Pride celebration will feature a World Cup match on June 26 between Iran, where homosexuality is punishable by death, and Egypt, where homosexual activity is punishable by up to three years in prison.<\/p>\n

Read more Ukraine Is Not Losing. Russia Is Not Winning.<\/a><\/p>\n

When FIFA\u2019s schedulers announced the Pride Match pairing after December\u2019s draw, it felt a little like a sick joke. The Egyptian Football Association has said it will reject \u201cin absolute terms\u201d any signs or symbols of gay pride. Mehdi Taj, the head of the Iranian football federation, told news agencies that the game assignment was an \u201cirrational move,\u201d and just about everyone was, for once, on Iran\u2019s side.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s role in the entire tournament has since become a much thornier dilemma: Whether the country will participate at all will remain in doubt until 11 men take the field for their opening game against New Zealand, scheduled for June 15 in Los Angeles. In March, after the United States and Israel killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran\u2019s sports minister said that the country \u201cwas not in a position to participate in a World Cup.\u201d Iran then petitioned FIFA to move its group-stage games to Mexico, but that plea was rejected. Late last month, Iran moved its base camp from Tucson to Tijuana. FIFA brokered the deal after the U.S. balked at hosting the Iranians for extended periods.<\/p>\n

\u201cFootball unites the world,\u201d Gianni Infantino, FIFA\u2019s president, likes to say, ignoring the fact that the U.S. keeps bombing Iran, and that fans from Iran, Iraq, Haiti, Senegal, and the Ivory Coast are still subject to President Trump\u2019s full or partial travel bans. An Ebola outbreak has also threatened the Democratic Republic of the Congo\u2019s participation. Less than a week out from the biggest men\u2019s World Cup in history, Infantino\u2019s easy rhetoric is proving no match for the world\u2019s more complicated realities.<\/p>\n

At FIFA\u2019s annual congress, held in April in Vancouver, delegates from 210 countries were registered as present during the impossibly long roll call. (\u201cFaroe Islands?\u201d \u201cPresent.\u201d) The single absence was Iran\u2019s, after Taj had his Canadian visa revoked mid-flight for having once been a member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, listed by Canada as a terrorist entity. He arrived in Toronto, was refused entry, and was sent back to Tehran.<\/p>\n

Trump had promised that Iran\u2019s players would be allowed to enter the U.S. \u201cIt would be hard to believe they have a good team, but we must let them play at the World Cup,\u201d he said recently. The Iranians left their farewell celebrations in Tehran and headed to Ankara, Turkey, to get fingerprinted for their visas, not knowing if they\u2019d receive them. The players finally did, on June 5; Iran said that more than a dozen staff and officials, including Taj, were denied visas but will reportedly travel to Mexico in the hopes of winning belated approval. Nobody seemed to know how the drama would end\u2014except, that is, for Gianni Infantino.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, Iran will be participating at the FIFA World Cup 2026,\u201d he said during his address at April\u2019s congress. \u201cOf course, Iran will play in the United States of America. The reason for that is very simple, dear friends. It is because we have to unite. We have to bring people together.\u201d<\/p>\n

He ignored the fact that during an earlier test of the electronic voting system, delegates from the 210 members in attendance were asked to agree to the fact that they were gathered in Vancouver.<\/p>\n

In a secret ballot, five voted no.<\/p>\n

This World Cup cycle<\/span>, the first to include 48 teams and share hosting duties among three countries, is expected to bring in a record $13 billion, and each of the participating countries will pocket a base reward of $12.5 million. It was supposed to be $10 million, but Infantino began hearing complaints from even rich countries feeling the squeeze: travel, hotel, and ticket costs threatened to leave teams in the red. His last-minute decision to increase payouts, announced two days before the congress, quelled a larger revolt.<\/p>\n

Managing Trump has proved trickier. In December, Infantino awarded him the first FIFA Peace Prize, an obvious play at soothing Trump\u2019s anguish for his not having received the Nobel. Even by Infantino\u2019s usual standards for lightly concealed skid-greasing, it was a shameless display.<\/p>\n

Infantino declined requests for an interview, but several delegates to the FIFA Congress who wished to remain anonymous told me that the 56-year-old Italian Swiss Lebanese lawyer is more of an operator than a manager, better equipped to maintain his power, $6 million salary, and the lifestyle they afford him than to do much good with them. (Vancouver police reportedly denied a request for Infantino to receive a level-four motorcade while he was in the city, the same level afforded to the pope and the U.S. president; FIFA denied asking for any specific level of security.)<\/p>\n

Infantino became FIFA\u2019s leader in 2016 after Sepp Blatter, another Swiss, was unseated amidst a major corruption scandal. More than a dozen FIFA executives and their associates were indicted by the U.S. government in a bribery and vote-buying scheme. Delegates, mostly from small or developing countries, received kickbacks in exchange for their votes, especially on World Cup hosting duties, and the U.S. lost the 2022 men\u2019s World Cup to Qatar in what was widely seen as a corrupt result. Although Blatter himself was not charged in the investigation, his regime collapsed under the weight of hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes for TV rights and other spoils, and he was soon banned from international football for ethical breaches.<\/p>\n

When the U.S., Canada, and Mexico were awarded the honor of hosting 2026\u2019s edition\u2014the first such vote under Infantino\u2019s new regime\u2014Infantino, who cast himself as a reformer, won credit for righting a wrong.<\/p>\n

But while avoiding Blatter\u2019s style of brazen corruption, he became, almost instantly, chummy with strongmen, and perhaps a bit too enthusiastic about his place among them. Infantino\u2019s first World Cup was hosted by Russia, after which he received the Russian Order of Friendship from President Vladimir Putin. (Infantino has since started campaigning to lift Russia\u2019s ban from play that followed its invasion of Ukraine.) His second was in Qatar, where he moved and accepted the use of a private jet, becoming one of the emirate\u2019s most impassioned defenders in the process.<\/p>\n

In a February interview with Politico<\/i>, Blatter accused his successor of ruling \u201clike a Sun King.\u201d \u201cWho is FIFA today?\u201d Blatter asked. \u201cIt consists only of its president, Infantino. FIFA is a dictatorship!\u201d Blatter also suggested that Infantino, like a lot of dictators, has started acting withdrawn. At FIFA headquarters, he said, Infantino doesn\u2019t wish to be greeted and won\u2019t share an elevator. \u201cHe isolates himself completely,\u201d Blatter said.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s no accident that FIFA is based in Zurich. The association has always professed a convenient and lucrative neutrality, faithful only to the beautiful game and the money it generates. The second World Cup, in 1934, was held in Benito Mussolini\u2019s Italy and served his blustery model of fascism; 1978\u2019s edition took place in Argentina, in the middle of its military junta and the disappearance of tens of thousands of dissidents.<\/p>\n

From his home in Doha, Infantino helped Qatar establish a new precedent for a host\u2019s imposition of its norms on visitors. Two days before the competition began, Qatar banned alcohol sales in and around stadiums. Budweiser, one of the tournament\u2019s major sponsors, couldn\u2019t do anything about it.<\/p>\n

There was also an uproar over rainbow-colored captain\u2019s armbands that read OneLove<\/span>, promoting inclusion. Seven European captains threatened to defy an order against wearing them, until, hours before England\u2019s opening kickoff, FIFA announced that each would receive a yellow card. The seven captains caved.<\/p>\n

Infantino has claimed he understands the plight of the oppressed: He grew up as a redhead in Italy. Still, he defended the move by saying that Europeans needed to apologize for 3,000 years of their own sins before \u201cstarting to give moral lessons to people.\u201d Qatar\u2019s culture was worthy of respect, he said, and Infantino\u2019s FIFA would help ensure that it was respected.<\/p>\n

Infantino engineered<\/span> his next coup when Saudi Arabia was named host of the 2034 World Cup after its sovereign wealth fund invested heavily in FIFA. Because the 2030 edition was scattered across Europe, Africa, and South America (with Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay receiving one token game each), 2034 was open to bids from only Asia and Oceania. FIFA then sped up the bidding process, giving potential hosts only 25 days to submit their applications. Saudi Arabia did so immediately, and alone.<\/p>\n

There was an outcry, as there often is about Infantino\u2019s undemocratic tactics, but it didn\u2019t matter: Saudi Arabia\u2019s grand sportswashing campaign had won its greatest trophy. (There have been suggestions that Infantino expanded the World Cup to 48 teams in part to make it easier for China to qualify; it still fell short, and TV rights there reportedly sold for about a fifth of what FIFA had hoped.) He has continued his pattern of tribute paying with Trump, attending a MAGA rally, Trump\u2019s inauguration, and the premiere of Melania<\/i>. According to New York<\/i>magazine, Infantino also named Miami as a host city after a dinner there with Jared Kushner, Trump\u2019s son-in-law and a proud new Miami resident.<\/p>\n

During Trump\u2019s first term, Infantino had been more critical of the president and his policies, especially his travel ban on Muslim-majority nations. \u201cWhen it comes to FIFA competitions, any team, including the supporters and officials of that team, who qualify for a World Cup, need to have access to the country\u2014otherwise there is no World Cup,\u201d he said in 2017. \u201cThat is obvious.\u201d<\/p>\n

He has since chosen a different tack, trying to moderate his wild-card host with gifts and obsequious attention, one very strong man to another.<\/p>\n

In August, Infantino brought the World Cup itself to the Oval Office. \u201cSince you are a winner, of course, you can as well touch it,\u201d he said, handing the trophy to Trump, who was wearing a red TRUMP WAS RIGHT ABOUT EVERYTHING!<\/span> cap indoors.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan I keep it?\u201d Trump said, before answering his own question. \u201cWe\u2019re not giving it back.\u201d Infantino did eventually wrest the trophy from Trump\u2019s hands\u2014\u201cThat\u2019s a beautiful piece of gold, I will say,\u201d Trump said, his eyes following it the way a cat tracks a laser pointer\u2014before giving him the even gaudier FIFA Peace Prize in December.<\/p>\n

Read more Flu Vaccines Should Not Be This Hard<\/a><\/p>\n

Of course, Infantino couldn\u2019t have foreseen Trump\u2019s military incursions in Venezuela and Iran or his threats to invade Greenland, which made the peace prize look even more ridiculous than it already did. (In a January interview with The Guardian<\/i>, an anonymous FIFA source said it was a \u201cdeep embarrassment,\u201d and in April, the president of Norway\u2019s federation called for the peace prize to be abolished and its awarding to be investigated.)<\/p>\n

Venezuela narrowly missed qualifying for the World Cup, which, in its way, solved a problem, and Greenland\u2019s application for membership in the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football, or CONCACAF, was unanimously rejected last June.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s team, however, not only qualified but, no doubt to Trump\u2019s surprise, is ranked 21st in the world, only five spots behind the United States. If the Iranians do take the field, Seattle\u2019s Pride Match might decide who wins Group G. The first-place finisher will advance to the Round of 32 game scheduled for July 1, also in Seattle. There are a lot of games to be played, but one scenario is a match in which Iran plays Iraq.<\/p>\n

There is another: If Iran finishes second, it will play on July 3 in Dallas. If the U.S. finishes second in its group, too, Iran\u2019s opponent will be the United States of America.<\/p>\n

Infantino endured another<\/span> lesson in the limits of his facile brand of diplomacy in Vancouver, when he was outmaneuvered by Jibril Rajoub, the 73-year-old president of the Palestinian Football Association, who had asked to address the congress. Rajoub called for sanctions against Israel for the war in Gaza, the way Russia had been punished for the war in Ukraine. Basim Sheikh Suliman, the vice president of the Israel Football Association, parroted Infantino with a vague response about football\u2019s ability to unite the world. \u201cIn football, there is no place for politics,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

After Suliman finished, Infantino asked him to stay onstage, and he invited Rajoub to come back up: What better way to demonstrate the power of football, and for Infantino to reassert his sense of self, than to have these two men shake hands for the cameras?<\/p>\n

Rajoub climbed back onstage but refused to shake Suliman\u2019s hand, shouting about the injustices of the war in Gaza. \u201cPlease, please, please,\u201d he cried, loud enough to be heard at the back of the giant room. \u201cWe are suffering.\u201d Suliman stood still, uncertain of what he should do. Infantino, smiling through it, eventually got both men offstage.<\/p>\n

A FIFA source who wished to remain anonymous told me later that both men had agreed in advance to a handshake. If that\u2019s true, Rajoub had set a trap.<\/p>\n

Rajoub once served as Palestinian President Yasser Arafat\u2019s national security adviser and spent 17 years in various Israeli prisons. In 1970, he was convicted of throwing a grenade at a bus of Israeli soldiers. He\u2019s also the head of the Palestine Olympic Committee, and in 2015, he named a table-tennis tournament after Muhannad Halabi, who had stabbed two Israelis to death, including a young father, two months earlier. The idea that he would get onstage and smile for the cameras while shaking hands with a representative of Israel is almost laughable. But somehow, he convinced Infantino that he would.<\/p>\n

Or Infantino convinced himself. He concluded the congress by announcing that he would seek reelection at next year\u2019s edition in Rabat, tweaking the rules so that he could serve 15 years instead of 12, the term limit. A clutch of FIFA staff, dressed in identical blue suits and FIFA-branded Adidas sneakers, stood and applauded. Not many of the delegates did. Infantino ran his most recent two elections unopposed, and it\u2019s widely expected that he will again.<\/p>\n

But he might face a challenge from Victor Montagliani, the Canadian head of CONCACAF. Montagliani also spoke in Vancouver, and his speech sounded like the start of a rival campaign. \u201cLeadership is not about power,\u201d he said. \u201cLeadership is about service. It\u2019s about making decisions for the many, not the few.\u201d Infantino looked on, his smile not quite reaching his eyes.<\/p>\n

Any genuinely global<\/span> event will have its friction points\u2014and having three countries host 48 others, rather than one country host 32, was always going to make things knottier. But this World Cup should have been different. It was, in soccer parlance, a sitter. There are none of the usual final-week jitters about stadium preparedness or creaky infrastructure, and the U.S. is still, like FIFA, technically a democracy.<\/p>\n

But there is a Trump-shaped shadow over the 2026 World Cup, beyond the on-and-off war with Iran. Foreign fans, like other tourists, have heard horror stories about ICE and are electing to stay home. Hoteliers in most U.S. host cities are forecasting lower occupancy rates than they had hoped, and inflation and price gouging have made tickets and public transit prohibitively expensive for Americans. (On match days, NJ Transit is charging $98 for a return trip to MetLife Stadium, a ticket that normally costs $13.) One of our great unifiers\u20141.5 billion people watched the last final\u2014looks like it could be another source of division instead, and what should have been Infantino\u2019s simplest navigation suddenly seems his most perilous.<\/p>\n

The FIFA Congress is an annual event, no matter whether there\u2019s any real need for it. It\u2019s another chance for Infantino to exert his influence with first-class airfares, suites at luxury hotels, and fleets of polished black SUVs. According to one soccer executive, Sarah McLachlan received $500,000 to play four songs at a splashy private party for delegates. Infantino defends the excess as a demonstration of his commitment to equality: Everyone gets paid. So long as each of FIFA\u2019s 211 members pretends to try to qualify for the World Cup, they get at least $5 million every cycle. That\u2019s a lot of money for Timor-Leste, Eritrea, and Guam.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe most important point for me is that whatever we do in FIFA is guided by one principle, one very simple principle,\u201d Infantino told the congress. \u201cFIFA has 211 members, and all 211 are equal.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was supposed to be some real business done in Vancouver: the votes for who will host the women\u2019s World Cups in 2031 and 2035, the first two to field 48 teams. The ballot was a formality because Infantino had ensured there was only one bid for each year. In 2031, the U.S. is once again poised to host, along with Mexico, Jamaica, and Costa Rica. In 2035, it\u2019s supposed to be the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n

But here, again, Infantino\u2019s plans have been complicated by Trump. Shortly before the Vancouver congress, The Athletic<\/i> reported that Trump\u2019s administration has withheld the usual guarantees about visas and security for 2031\u2014not that they\u2019ve meant much in 2026\u2014until FIFA rewrites its transgender-athlete policy, banning athletes born male.<\/p>\n

FIFA, accustomed to being the one that makes the demands, has so far resisted the change. Trump\u2019s leverage is the absence of a competing bid. Infantino removed the votes for both women\u2019s World Cups from Vancouver\u2019s agenda, pushing them to a virtual Extraordinary Congress on November 23, three weeks after the U.S. midterm elections.<\/p>\n

But first comes<\/span> Infantino\u2019s own strategic test, the same one faced by every emperor whose dominion threatens to collapse because of overexpansion. FIFA could have easily avoided the Pride Match controversy, at least. Seattle\u2019s celebration could have featured Belgium and New Zealand, which are competing in the same group and playing each other on the same day. Instead, that game went to Vancouver.<\/p>\n

Ignorance is one explanation for the otherwise inexplicable, but the fact that FIFA has said nothing about its scheduling decision and the anxiety it has caused suggests intent.<\/p>\n

Only four years after Qatar, it\u2019s possible that Infantino, recognizing that he yielded to one host\u2019s demands, decided against placating countries that might take offense to a different host\u2019s more liberal standards. The rules have to stay the rules: These are the conditions, and they are not for you or for us to change. We\u2019ll make sure the grass is cut. Your only choice is to play or not play.<\/i><\/p>\n

Or, given the circles in which he has come to operate, he might be employing a more sinister calculus.<\/p>\n

How might Infantino continue to curry favor with Trump, who, in addition to his anti-DEI policies, has threatened Democratic-led host cities with the removal of games? How might one man help the other unsettle \u201cradical left\u201d cities such as Seattle beyond even the usual World Cup chaos? How might Infantino continue to profess neutrality while still clearly taking a side, pretending to listen to every voice while remaining obedient to only one?<\/p>\n

Read more The Road Wound Upward<\/a><\/p>\n

The way you\u2019d ruin any party: You\u2019d invite the worst possible guests.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FIFA\u2019s president calls football a great unifier, but is it a match for the chaos of 2026t?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":406,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Absurd World Cup - Commercial Relocation Pros<\/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:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=407\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Absurd World Cup - Commercial Relocation Pros\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"FIFA\u2019s president calls football a great unifier, but is it a match for the chaos of 2026t?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=407\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Commercial Relocation Pros\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-07T14:41:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"16 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=407#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=407\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3a3374a445f1b5d4852b1d7c15b9fe3a\"},\"headline\":\"The Absurd World Cup\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-07T14:41:10+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=407\"},\"wordCount\":3280,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=407#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/8a46d147824481d08b82de8358c3459d.avif\",\"articleSection\":[\"Culture\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=407#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=407\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=407\",\"name\":\"The Absurd World Cup - Commercial Relocation Pros\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=407#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=407#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/8a46d147824481d08b82de8358c3459d.avif\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-07T14:41:10+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3a3374a445f1b5d4852b1d7c15b9fe3a\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=407#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=407\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=407#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/8a46d147824481d08b82de8358c3459d.avif\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/8a46d147824481d08b82de8358c3459d.avif\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":625},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=407#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Absurd World Cup\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Commercial Relocation Pros\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3a3374a445f1b5d4852b1d7c15b9fe3a\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Absurd World Cup - Commercial Relocation Pros","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=407","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Absurd World Cup - Commercial Relocation Pros","og_description":"FIFA\u2019s president calls football a great unifier, but is it a match for the chaos of 2026t?","og_url":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=407","og_site_name":"Commercial Relocation Pros","article_published_time":"2026-06-07T14:41:10+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"16 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=407#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=407"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/#\/schema\/person\/3a3374a445f1b5d4852b1d7c15b9fe3a"},"headline":"The Absurd World Cup","datePublished":"2026-06-07T14:41:10+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=407"},"wordCount":3280,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=407#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/8a46d147824481d08b82de8358c3459d.avif","articleSection":["Culture"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=407#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=407","url":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=407","name":"The Absurd World Cup - Commercial Relocation Pros","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=407#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=407#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/8a46d147824481d08b82de8358c3459d.avif","datePublished":"2026-06-07T14:41:10+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/#\/schema\/person\/3a3374a445f1b5d4852b1d7c15b9fe3a"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=407#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=407"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=407#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/8a46d147824481d08b82de8358c3459d.avif","contentUrl":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/8a46d147824481d08b82de8358c3459d.avif","width":1200,"height":625},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=407#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Absurd World Cup"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/","name":"Commercial Relocation Pros","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/#\/schema\/person\/3a3374a445f1b5d4852b1d7c15b9fe3a","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com"],"url":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=407"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}