On page 63 of The World Cup as World History, William D. Bowman features a quote from then Colombian President Belisario Betancur:
“The 1986 World Cup finals will not be held in Colombia. The golden rule whereby the championship would serve Colombia and not a group of multi-national companies was not observed. Here we have many other things to do and there is no time to attend to the extravagances of FIFA.”
This quote, as Bowman expands upon in Chapter 2, was indicative of the direction FIFA was moving in – a direction that placed political posturing and profit at it’s forefront.
Colombia’s decision to pull out of hosting the 1986 World Cup ultimately came down to the question of whether or not the investment the Colombian government would have to place into FIFA-related infrastructure and activities would pay off financially and culturally for the country as a whole. It was decided this would not be the case, especially due to the existing corruption and influence drug cartels had over the country’s professional leagues. The guarantee the country would profit from the World Cup was simply not there.
Less than a decade later, the World Cup found itself hosted in the United States, a nation in which soccer had struggled to find a foothold in. Although record viewing numbers were achieved during this World Cup, which can be partially attributed to technological advancements in TV broadcasting, impacts on the sport overall in the nation were limited. Initial increases in youth leagues and interest in the sport at the professional level were felt but did not leave a lasting impact, especially since foreign leagues performed at much higher levels than U.S. leagues.
Yet, as the authors of the article “What’s Left When the Circus Leaves Town? An Evaluation of World Cup USA 1994,” point out:
“…the real legacy of the USA World Cup, once the circus left town, has been the model of a mean, lean, and immensely profitable event management…”
This legacy of the 1994 U.S. World Cup seems to have held true and is likely to be proven again in the upcoming 2026 World Cup – where fans are facing high ticket prices and the current FIFA president, Gianni Infantino has cozied up to political leaders, such as president Donald Trump, in the run up to the event.
Leave a Reply