Bad World Cup, good football?
🤞🏽Hear me out: there might be an opportunity in the chaos
Previously on The Good Football
Human Things
The Good Stuff - Vol VII
The World Cup is here! And it’s the exact mess we were expecting it to be so far.
In talking to friends, scrolling through feeds, and reading different articles, I’ve found that the lack of that unique, characteristic World Cup excitement is definitely shared. No wonder why; while our only concerns should be filling out sweepstakes, dressing our homes in the colours of our national flag, deciding where we’re gonna watch each game, and what outfits to wear, we are instead reading all types of bad news that only confirm what we were already expecting to find.
Headlines such as “Somali Referee Denied Entry to U.S. for World Cup”, “World Cup tickets for Iran fans revoked, says country’s federation”, “FIFA Peace Prize winner bombs Iran on eve of FIFA World Cup”, or “Here’s who’s been banned from the 2026 World Cup so far” are as surreal as they are distracting from the spectacle we’ve waited 4 years for, and also denying its own nature.
The World Cup is about bringing everyone together to play a sport that belongs to the very same people who are playing, watching, travelling, and celebrating.
From the realisation that no World Cup will be as good as the one from when you were 11 to the criticism of football's selective politics (who gets condemned, and who gets a pass), excellent content is being written and compiled, pointing to the fact and the reasons why this World Cup feels especially off.
And yet, when Somali referee Omar Artan landed back home after being denied entry to the US, he was received as a hero. That image of a small crowd celebrating a man who never got to even step on the stage might be the most World Cup thing that's happened so far. And it’s the kind of thing that makes me wonder: can this be an ideal moment for the good football to shine?
Could the bad and the ugly serve as an opportunity for the good to speak louder and steal the spotlight? Could it be that the brands, institutions, and people who choose to stand for the real football end up becoming the story, gaining headlines, audiences, brand value, and genuine support; everything the bad football is trying so hard to manufacture.
Could this World Cup actually help us prove the point that the good football is what could actually save football, drive business and build more value for the game and the brands involved in it? I’m willing to find out.
In the upcoming weeks, I'll be sending weekly dispatches, intentionally looking for the good football in the World Cup, and sharing what I spot here. I'll also be closely following whether the good football actually moves the needle for brands, for audiences, for the game itself, and reporting back as I go.
If that’s what you’re into, stay tuned (and maybe share this so more people can be inspired by the good side of football)!
Check out the good links below for the first sightings of the good football in these first couple of days.
See you next week!
THE GOOD LINKS
🐻 2026 Berlin Indie Football Festival!!! Will I see you there?
😲 Are you already using the Trionda emoji on Whatsapp?
5️⃣ This list of the five things you can do to reconnect with football while feeling hopeless.
💫 Raul Jimenez serving us an epic, the-good-football coded moment in the opening match.
🦘 This video from the Socceroos is the second reason that makes me want to support them (the first being Jackson Irvine, of course).
👱♂️ Speaking of Mr Irvine, here’s a video of him defending the good football.
📺 A brand in Argentina is giving free TVs to fans whose visas were denied.
🍎 NYC’s beautiful World Cup campaign.
COMPLETELY OFFSIDE
Links that are not football-related but still worth sharing.
The NTS Breakfast with Flo show is the best company for those of us who work from home and sometimes get tired of the Spotify algorithm.
Flo Dill all day! I didn’t watch the last MWC and won’t watch this one, but do love the smaller nations who get to shine on this stage.
I have been enjoying a lot of the good news and social media content we have been getting from these games so far, especially between Mexico and South Korea. It’s impossible to avoid so much bad news, but it is refreshing to see the supporters enjoying themselves in spite of one host and the governing body putting on the event doing their best to make it as depressing as possible.