FIFA refuses Zelensky's request to broadcast message from him during World Cup final

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

https://twitter.com/CNN/status/1603716012318359552?t=IjoT-Zoq8SCs6eUCN-8Tyg&...

Hardly shocking from the criminal organization that is FIFA.

[HillGoose]

what else would u expect from the ppl who robbed free nations like the US and Australia in favor of Qatar??

[Estrella]

You could find reasons to refuse the speech that aren't based on FIFA being Bond villains (under Blatter) or Austin Powers villains (under Infantino). Needless to say, the reason we've been given is not that:

Those fans and the billions watching on TV, they have their own problems. They just want to watch 90 or 120 minutes without having to think about anything.

[LAKISYLVANIA]

FIFA is evil and all football federations should leave it.

[Isaak]

1) The FIFA World Cup is – by far – the most important sports event of the year, and more than a billion people are expected to watch the final tomorrow.

2) Most FIFA members are non-Western, and Zelenskyy is considered a controversial figure outside the Western world.

3) FIFA has a long-standing policy against the politicization of sports. Given the situation in Ukraine, Zelenskyy delivering a speech about "world peace" must be considered a political act. FIFA's decision should not come as a surprise.

4) I am not even sure how this would help his cause at all. Many people are already sick and tired of hearing about Ukraine all day (which is not Zelenskyy's fault, of course). They just want to be well entertained tomorrow, and see Messi, De Paul, Giroud, Varane, etc. fighting it out on the football pitch.

[Zinneke]

Isaak's views are controversial but they do hit the right spot in terms of how overwrought a Zelenskyy speech would look like before the whole orgy of Qatari propaganda and Instagram influencers that will follow. Even the Americans are telling him, seriously dude, tone it down.

But FIFA rejected cause they are horrible psychopaths based in Zurich.

[Santander]

FIFA already revealed their true colors when they kicked Russia out of qualifying while letting Ukraine play. But good to see they're not willing to let corrupt dictator Zelenskyy go this far.

[Lexii, harbinger of chaos and sexual anarchy]

What a bunch of fags. And no. I’m not being homophobic because these fags hate queer people.

Thats sooo dumb

[Progressive Pessimist]

FIFA are up there with Castillo, Musk, Putin, Trump, and Kanye West as contenders for villains of the year.

What a bunch of fags. And no. I’m not being homophobic because these fags hate queer people.

Uhhh...

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Things like this show the titanic divide between many in the West and the Third World re: Ukraine.
I don't think there is a universe in which Zelensky's request was approved.

[CumbrianLefty]

I presume that Infantino doesn't "feel Ukrainian" then.

[Red Velvet]

It was about damn time someone in the West said NO to this guy. On literally anything. Good for FIFA.

[Hindsight was 2020]

Doing a heckva job for your image FIFA 🙄

[kaoras]

Even in Latin America, where most people are broadly sympathetic to Ukraine (when they remember the War exists, that is), this would have gone down as well as a lead balloon.

[Kahane's Grave Is A Gender-Neutral Bathroom]

1) The FIFA World Cup is – by far – the most important sports event of the year, and more than a billion people are expected to watch the final tomorrow.

2) Most FIFA members are non-Western, and Zelenskyy is considered a controversial figure outside the Western world.

3) FIFA has a long-standing policy against the politicization of sports. Given the situation in Ukraine, Zelenskyy delivering a speech about "world peace" must be considered a political act. FIFA's decision should not come as a surprise.

4) I am not even sure how this would help his cause at all. Many people are already sick and tired of hearing about Ukraine all day (which is not Zelenskyy's fault, of course). They just want to be well entertained tomorrow, and see Messi, De Paul, Giroud, Varane, etc. fighting it out on the football pitch.

Is it really that he's controversial or that they just don't give a sh**t.

[SlavicOrthodoxWolf]

Based

[Lord Halifax]

It was about damn time someone in the West said NO to this guy. On literally anything. Good for FIFA.

FIFA is hardly "in the West" despite being based in Switzerland. The economic interests controlling it aren't Western.

[bagelman]

It doesn't change that FIFA and the interests controlling it are bad actors, but I'm forced to admit that this is a reasonable decision. Let people watch their dumb soccer game without being reminded of war.