Another FIFA World Cup competition is here. This is usually highly anticipated worldwide, and there is friendly rivalry among countries. Believe it that international meetings can be interrupted to announce results. It is reported that a priest was once sanctioned...
Another FIFA World Cup competition is here. This is usually highly anticipated worldwide, and there is friendly rivalry among countries. Believe it that international meetings can be interrupted to announce results. It is reported that a priest was once sanctioned for wearing his team colours while presiding at Mass.
Another FIFA World Cup competition is here. This is usually highly anticipated worldwide, and there is friendly rivalry among countries. Believe it that international meetings can be interrupted to announce results. It is reported that a priest was once sanctioned for wearing his team colours while presiding at Mass.
This year’s competition is being hosted jointly by Mexico, the US, and Canada, and will run from June 11 to July 19. This was expected to be a friendly collaboration among neighbours. Now relations are strained. This is a particularly historic World Cup as there are three North American host countries, and 48 teams—16 more than in previous championships. It is also being played at a geopolitically difficult time.
There are active wars involving Ukraine and Russia, and in the Middle East involving the US, Israel, Iran and Lebanon. Iran is among the qualifying teams. The situation in Gaza remains a cause for great concern. US-global relations are uncertain and tense. Immigration is a major global issue, particularly high on the agenda in developed countries, like the US and those in Western Europe. National policies are impacting the World Cup. There is also the impact of climate change, if the summer heat becomes unusually intense.
Attending this World Cup could be very challenging, especially for people from developing countries. The US has a list of 39 banned countries; entry fully or partially suspended. In addition, there are the usual difficulties for people from many other countries to obtain a visa to enter the US. Visas are also required to visit Canada. The entry requirements for Mexico are a bit more liberal. Remember there is a non-refundable fee for the visa and a high possibility of having applications denied. Remember, too, even with a visa, entry is not assured.
Fans from Africa, Asia, Central America and the Caribbean, and South America wanting to support their teams or just enjoy the championship have to cross the first hurdles of getting a tourist visa and gaining entry to the host countries.
Especially in the US, the cost of tickets for games—from the preliminary rounds to the final—seems outrageous. Tickets were being sold from US$60 to US$8,000 for final-match seats. FIFA’s pricing methods have been a point of controversy. An investigation into FIFA’s pricing was launched in New York. Now the BBC is reporting that ticket sales are not going as well as first projected.
Well, if visitors are nervous about securing visas; if they fear being denied entry; and if the price of tickets is prohibitive; why would people, especially from developing countries, invest in attending this World Cup, especially in the US?
The World Cup is the four-year international festival of a game played and loved in nearly all the world’s countries, even when it is called soccer. If some people do not follow local and international club football, they will be following the World Cup. They will be selecting a country to support because it is exciting and they want to be engaged.
Jamaica did not qualify, but the Central American, Caribbean and North American region (Concacaf) will be represented by Mexico, USA, Canada, Curaçao, Haiti and Panama. It is the first World Cup for Curaçao and the second for Haiti.
Haiti is a country in economic and political turmoil and this championship could raise spirits. There are teams to support from this region, and there are others who will win you over. Some of the top teams in the world rankings are France, Spain, Argentina, England, Portugal, Brazil, the Netherlands and Germany, and they all qualified. Could England, in the 250th year of US independence, actually surprise itself and the world and win only its second World Cup?
Good football can be expected from all the participating teams. Like fourth-placed Morocco in Qatar in 2022, there could be big surprises.
Creating this festival atmosphere are the spectators supporting the countries, but, at this World Cup, price aside, will the members of the diasporas in the host countries be comfortable attending the games? Or, will fear of being accosted by immigration agents limit in-person attendance?
It was hoped that teams like Iran, in a conflict with the US, Haiti on its banned list, and the Congo, where there is an Ebola outbreak, would be allowed to play their games with some sense of security and mental ease at the various venues. From reporting, this may not be the case. The US has restricted ticket sales to Iranian fans and denied entry to the first Somali referee selected to officiate at Cup matches. Somalia is also on its banned list.
As said in 2022, in an article on the World Cup and international trade, this is also a trade show. This is trade in services. The players and technical teams are displaying their talents in the hope they will get contracts with various international clubs, especially in Europe.
It is also hoped that FIFA will make a profit from this championship from media rights, sponsorships, and other ventures, so that more money will be allocated to the regional associations, particularly those in Africa, Asia, and Central America and the Caribbean, for the development of the sport.
There remains some controversy about the extent to which host countries really benefit in the long term from these international sporting events.
Since 2022, when they signed a memorandum of understanding, FIFA and the World Trade Organisation have been conducting studies to determine how the football championships for men and women can contribute to economic growth and development.
Let’s hope this World Cup will be a success, in spite of all the political and economic issues swirling around in host countries, particularly in the US, and in the world, and in spite of FIFA and its president. Nothing can be changed now. It is what it is. Our spirits can still be lifted watching the beautiful games in our own countries. Please, God, without power or Internet outages, or any other disruptions, man-made or natural.
• Elizabeth Morgan is a specialist in international trade policy and international politics.
Another FIFA World Cup competition is here. This is usually highly anticipated worldwide, and there is friendly rivalry among countries. Believe it that international meetings can be interrupted to announce results. It is reported that a priest was once sanctioned for wearing his team colours while presiding at Mass.
There is nothing like the World Cup finals when it comes to capturing the imagination of John Public. Whether you’re in Brazil, where football is a veritable religion, or right here in Trinidad and Tobago, where qualification for the global sporting celebration is an extremely rare occurrence, there is always great anticipation ahead of World Cup football.
Well, it’s that time again! Four years have passed, and here we are, three days into the finals.
Clinical reports offer clear evidence of the severe psychological toll that living under a prolonged state of emergency takes on a population, frequently surfacing as chronic stress.
While immediate stress is expected after a disaster, long-term exposure can trigger lasting psychological issues like PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), severe generalised anxiety, and clinical depression. Many also struggle with hypervigilance—a constant state of high alert and sleep disruption.
Please permit me to lend my voice in condemnation of all those criticising our beloved Prime Minister, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, blessings be upon her, for extending the state of emergency.
These critics, clearly blinded by democracy, accountability, and other dangerous foreign ideas, fail to appreciate the great wisdom of governing a free people by keeping them in a permanent state of fear, with their rights conveniently limited.
There is a nightmare that many children in Trinidad and Tobago live out daily.
In this nightmare, they are born into homes where their well-being is an afterthought. The world around them, through the glitz of social media and the lived experiences of their peers, silently reveals a depressing truth—to be born into a family built on love, patience and care is a ruthless lottery only won by a rare few.
Calls for our politicians to “rise above politics” are common whenever Trinidad and Tobago faces a national crisis.
Whether the issue is crime, economic stagnation, or constitutional reform, the public regularly urges the Government and Opposition to put aside partisan interests. Yet, there is one silent crisis where political inertia has caused decades of State-sanctioned exclusion: the legislative neglect of persons with disabilities (PWDs) and our local deaf community.
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