World Cup Madness and Infantino's Hangover
Football just became the unlikely limit to corporate greed. Perhaps this glimpse of the World Cup as I've sailed through Guna Yala shows why.
Full disclosure: I only care about football once every four years, but when I do, it is the only sport that can move me to tears and scream like a caveman.
This year, the greatest sporting event in the world came with extra excitement. Would my two nations—Norway and Argentina—meet in a World Cup semi-final? Malik, my travel companion, had asked me who I’d root for should the two teams face each other, and I brushed it off as purely hypothetical.
Norway had not qualified for a World Cup in 28 years, and never made it past an eliminatory match. And I was convinced that the mad passion I’ve felt when Argentina enters the field was solely attributable to my Latin American genes.
But this World Cup was the World Cup of the underdogs, and suddenly Malik’s question had to be taken seriously.
Beyond my ambiguous loyalty, the madness that the Norwegian supporters brought to the cup—and the world—has made me reconsider the myth of northern composure and southern effusion.
Maybe Norwegians and Argentines are not so different after all.
I’ve watched the games in the villages and the deserted islands of Guna Yala, and to my pleasant surprise, the Guna were (mostly) either Argentina fans or Norway supporters.
Messi or Haaland.
Their personalities are relentlessly scrutinized, compared, and celebrated. Their lives are stories of triumph and failure, hubris and humility, the rise and potential fall from grace. They awaken strong emotions and stir something deep in us—a collective effervescence in the words of Durkheim—that has the power to bring us together.
And perhaps that is why football teams and their players don’t belong to a single nation and for sure not to a private corporation.
As a sport that stirs passion across borders and cultures and makes people from around the world go wild, it has become one of the most important arenas for global unity. Its social and cultural importance is too big for it to be sold to the highest bidder. Last week, that became clear to everyone but Infantino.
Through this journey, one of the scenes that has repeated everywhere I’ve been is the football fields packed with children. So, in a tribute to football, these images are meant to remind you of the impact of the game beyond the big stadiums.
