Is It The World Cup, Or Is It Me?
I love football. Soccer, for those about to get confused. I grew up in India, which meant cricket wasn't a sport so much as a civic obligation. And I liked cricket fine. But the game I actually enjoyed playing was football. No idea why. It just was.
I've been playing FIFA since 2002. (I stopped when EA renamed it to EA FC, but that's a tantrum for another post.) I've watched every World Cup I can remember. I have never been to one in person, which is still on the bucket list. And every four years, I accept that I will be slightly broken for a month, and let the tournament take over.
But here's the thing - the World Cup hasn't felt the same since 2014.
The Last Good One
Brazil 2014 was, in hindsight, the last World Cup that felt like a World Cup. The crowds, the country, that 7-1 against the hosts, Götze settling it in extra time with the side of his boot. I remember the football. I remember the vibe.
Then we got Russia. Then Qatar. And now we're in the middle of US/Mexico/Canada.
Each one has had its moments - of course it has, it's still the World Cup we're talking about. But each one has also felt a little more like a corporate event with some football attached, rather than the other way around.
The Football Moved, But the Money Moved More
Every middle-aged fan of every sport on earth has, at some point, written this exact paragraph. It's not about the game anymore, it's about the money. It's a cliché because it's mostly true. But it does feel like FIFA has gone from running a football tournament to running a brand activation that occasionally interrupts itself for some football. Qatar wasn't picked for footballing reasons, and nobody really pretended otherwise. Expanding to 48 teams is being sold as "more football for more fans" but is fairly obviously "more group-stage inventory for more sponsors." Football has always had money behind it. It just used to feel like the money was serving the game. Now the game is serving the money.
They Don't Make Ads Like They Used To
This is the one that genuinely makes me sad, and it turns out to be a strangely accurate barometer for the bigger thing. Go and watch the Nike "Secret Tournament" ad from 2002. Or the airport ad from 1998 with Ronaldo. Or Adidas "+10" from 2006 with Beckenbauer picking teams in a back garden like it's a Sunday kickabout. Great ads, more like short films. They felt like part of the tournament itself. You'd watch them on YouTube years later and that says something because its an ad! You pay to avoid ads on YouTube.
Now? It's a 15-second algorithm-bait cut, a crypto exchange logo on a hoarding, a tourism board sting between every replay. Nothing memorable. Just inventory.
I'm Not a Fan, I'm a Data Point
The other thing that has crept in is this gnawing feeling that I'm no longer the audience - I'm the product. Every stream wants my login. Every app wants my notifications. Every brand wants my purchase intent. The "generic football fan" (like me) isn't a person to entertain anymore - they're a number on a dashboard, valuable only to the extent that they can be served another ad. This isn't unique to football, obviously. It's the entire internet. But it stings here in particular, because football is one of the last things on the planet that genuinely transcends language and class and geography. Or it was. Now it transcends all of those things on its way to a CRM.
Or Maybe it's Just Me
Okay, in the spirit of being honest - some of this is probably me. When you're a kid, you don't know what FIFA is. You don't know who built the stadium. You don't know what sportswashing is. You see Ronaldo (OG) do a pass and your tiny brain explodes and that's the whole experience. There is no second layer. As an adult, the second layer is all you see. You know the host country's labour record. You know which broadcaster paid which rights fee. Maybe the thing I'm actually missing isn't the World Cup. It's the version of me that could watch it without all of that.
I'm Still Watching
For the record, I haven't quit. The World Cup is still the best the sport gets. I just notice the gap now. The gap between what I'm watching and what I remember watching. And I suspect that gap is going to keep growing, regardless of which country gets handed the next one.
But there's still a month of football to go. And I'll be watching. Probably still a bit nostalgic. Maybe a wonderkid or two announce themselves with something spectacular.