An article in the New Statesman today questions whether Brazil 2014 will be the last time the World Cup matters. The article raises the point that:

“International football could be the purest of competitions, but the dominance of the global club brands, the bloated finals tournament and lack of surprise factor together with distaste for FIFA mean that it’s increasingly becoming irrelevant.

“From Brazil 2014, it is estimated that FIFA – a charitable body based in Switzerland – will earn $5bn. In 2012, the organization reported a profit of $89m, with reserves totaling $1.378bn. To win the right to stage the finals, countries must agree to FIFA’s stipulations on tax. And they are that it pays no tax whatsoever. Conservative estimates are that this exemption will see Brazil’s Internal Revenue Service lose out on $248.7m. Tax expert Han Kogels told CNN: “I was (and still am) not aware of any other international commercial sport event being subsidized through full tax exemption at the cost of other taxpayers.”

It’s important to note that the article is written from a perspective of a writer in England, where the opposition to FIFA may be greater than in other nations. However, his points still stand given that FIFA is a cash cow that generates a ton of revenue for itself, is allegedly corrupt and run inefficiently, and creates a tournament that isn’t as thrilling as ones in previous decades.

Having said all that, I disagree that Brazil 2014 will be the last World Cup that matters. Whenever you have international countries participating in a tournament, national pride trumps everything. Sports fans will be quite forgiving as long as the stadiums are built and the games are played. To purists, the last World Cup that mattered was perhaps World Cup 1986 or World Cup 1990. If Brazil World Cup 2014 matters to soccer fans on the globe, then all future World Cups will continue to matter as long as countries are participating.

Thoughts? Share your opinions in the comments section below.

Here are today’s world soccer news headlines:

International soccer

Premier League

Serie A

Football League

Bundesliga

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