Quote:
Originally Posted by CroFlames
FIFA needs UEFA more than UEFA needs FIFA.
Much like the NHL has given international hockey the big middle finger, in my mind it's only a matter of time before UEFA give it to FIFA, and this should be the catalyst.
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This is crazy talk. Just everything is lined up against this.
At the most obvious level, if the leagues or UEFA would start talking boycott, the sponsors would tell them to shut up, and that's the end of that discussion.
Also, FIFA was mostly created by UEFA countries, and they wield more power than anyone else. (although this is obviously very complicated). You're suggesting that they would cut ties from the organization that gives them control over all the soccer in the world because they don't want to take part in what is mostly their own tournament.
Besides, the European leagues are not separate entities the way NHL is, but parts of their respective national associations (except for Premier League). It would probably be literally impossible for the leagues to make such decisions.
Also, what would the leagues even do? It's not like they could stop the players from going. Nobody would watch the national league games while the World Cup would be running. Threatening to fire the stars would be an exercise in futility. The fans would hang the club managers, possibly literally, for dismantling their teams.
And the players WILL go to the World Cup given the chance. The national championships and cups in soccer are not even in the same ballbark as the World Cup.
Vast majority of even the top players will play their whole careers without winning the World Cup. Players like Zico, Johan Cruyff, Paolo Maldini, Michel Platini never won it.
For some statistical scale:
- of the 10 players who have won multiple Ballon d'Or prices (incredibly difficult in itself), only 2 have won the World Cup. (Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo could still win it.)
- only 21 players have ever won it twice, and 14 of those played for Brazil in 1958-62. In the 50+ years since only 3 names have been added to that list.