“A tribe including many members who, from possessing in a high degree the spirit of patriotism, fidelity, obedience, courage, and sympathy, were always ready to aid one another, and to sacrifice themselves for the common good, would be victorious over most other tribes.”

– Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man (1874)

I don’t watch sports regularly. I know that there are many people who watch the big game every week and like to keep up with a number of different leagues and whatnot throughout the year. I am not one of these people. That being said, there is an exception. Every two years, a fire gets lit inside of me and I am hooked to sports for a summer. This is because the FIFA World Cup and the UEFA European Football Championship each happen every four years. This gives me enough time to ignore sports for a long while and then expel all pent up sports energy for a couple weeks, then go back to normal for a while. Given that I have been somewhat critical of the sports fandom in the past, the current world cup has given me a few thoughts that I’d like to share. So grab your favorite team’s jersey, and let’s kickoff.

There is a lot that can be said about the FIFA World Cup. Like with the Olympics, there seems to be a lot of corruption going on behind the scenes. If you look at which countries have hosted that past few World Cups, South Africa, Brazil, Russia, and Qatar, as well as by looking at the current and future hosts, United States, Canada, Mexico, Spain, Portugal, Morocco, and Saudi Arabia, it’s not the most transparent and corruption free nations which have been chosen to host the tournament. It definitely looks like an event that can be bought for a price. It is also hard to imagine that this is a new phenomenon. It may be only more recently that rather silly things like Trump being given the FIFA Peace Prize have caused the illusion to break a little.

Not that FIFA is the only one guilty of this. Certainly there are similar levels of questionable practices and backroom deals that are done for the benefit of those at the top in the NHL, NBA, NFL, the IOC and so on. Wherever there is money to be made, money will be made, and lots of it. Before the 2026 World Cup started there were no shortage of reports alleging corrupt practices of Gianni Infantino, the president of FIFA, Trump’s connection, and other things that made people suspicious. But, to be fair, this happens every world cup. I have been fairly active in watching the World Cup since 2014 and the story is always the same. There are dramatic documentaries and damning articles about the tournament beforehand, and then as soon as the first match starts, it pretty much all goes away and everyone seems to forget everything. For my money, Qatar was one of the most questionable world cups. It is a tiny country that has basically zero historical connection to soccer and didn’t have any of the facilities necessary. Of course, everything had to be built quickly and for a country with endless money due to oil, it is unfortunate that it was built with what could be described as slave labor. They might describe it as very very cheap labor, but what the poor migrant workers are paid in the Gulf Countries can hardly be described as anything better than 21st century slavery, or indentured servitude at least.

Due to the power of mass entertainment, people forgot these issues in 2022 and people have again forgotten these issues now. The big game is on, and people must watch. The people must have their bread and circuses.

I am not innocent of this trend. While I have basically zero interest in most everything sports related, soccer is something of an exception. I don’t keep up with the yearly Bundesliga or Premier League, but as said, every two years I am hooked. I too have my own complaints of FIFA and their numerous ways of promoting capitalism, corruption, and sports fanaticism as far and as wide as possible. However, as soon as the German or American team steps out onto the pitch, I find it hard to look away.

I am not sure if this is something that is totally my fault though. While there are many regional conflicts and wars around the world, they are not anything like the wars that the world has experienced in the 20th century. Whereas we now have a lot of small skirmishes where the different parties are scared of escalating, we used to be okay with thousands of soldiers dying in a single battle. It is without a doubt a good thing that we haven’t had any majorly large war in the 21st century, and hopefully it stays this way. I wonder then if maybe international sporting events, like the Olympics and World Cup, aren’t maybe a way for some of this anger and aggression to be released in a healthy way.

Humans are tribal, that has always been true and I imagine that this won’t change any time soon. While war is usually a bad thing, one minor benefit is that one was able to feel completely a part of a tribe. It isn’t always healthy or sophisticated, but the ‘us versus them’ feeling is a powerful one. When I see Germany play another country in the World Cup, I can’t help but be completely engaged. I cheer when they score, angrily shout when they are scored against, and I am glued to the screen. For two forty five minute halves, I am completely team Germany and I am in some sense fighting against another nation. Granted, most people only have one team they really support, whereas I am really equally happy to get emotionally invested in the German or American team. It feels like international soccer matches are a simulation of a conflict between two countries. The stakes are of course a lot lower than a real war, but I am not sure that people can necessarily emotionally tell the difference.

For me, I just couldn’t care less about say the Green Bay Packers or the Chicago Blackhawks, I just can’t get emotionally invested into a random team from some random mascot. However, once we start drawing larger boundaries and it becomes nation against nation, that becomes a lot more compelling. For people who love football, hockey, soccer, or any other sport, maybe it doesn’t really matter who is playing. Maybe they’d watch no matter what. I think however that there are a lot of people who only tune in when the sporting events are international, because then it makes supporting your team not only easier but it makes you feel a part of something greater.

If your choices are between some random NFL teams, your neighbor might like a different one. There is somewhat of a regional element to which team one supports, but it’s not set in stone. Whereas what nation one supports is pretty self explanatory, there are few who are dual citizens or those who happily support two nations. People will support their nation, because in some sense the nation is just a very large extended family.

As mentioned before, if World Cups and Olympic games can stop wars from breaking out and allows people to feel united, then great. I think this is a very positive and optimistic way to look at these types of things. However, let’s not pretend like the organizations running these things are benevolent. They want to make money and gain influence, and by supporting their endeavours, you are willingly or unwillingly supporting a very unique and set apart international class of people.

Plus, let’s not forget. None of it matters. Whether one team of eleven people win a soccer match, or the other team of eleven people, it really doesn’t matter. They don’t know that you exist, they don’t care that you exist, and they just hope that enough suckers will buy jerseys, merch, and concessions so that they can make even more money. At the end of the day, the idea of bread and circuses is not dead, it has spectacularly evolved into massive hundred thousand seater stadiums with retractable roofs that are completely climate controlled. As long as the people have their entertainment they won’t look into corruption or into the real problems in society. Sports, and especially the World Cup, are a huge way in which people can be suckered and distracted from the things that are meaningful. Many people craft their whole personalities on sports and on ‘their’ team.

And yet, I totally get it. I too was super depressed when Germany lost against Paraguay and I was very frustrated as Belgium played much better against the United States. These were real emotions that I felt and for the short time in which the matches were on, I was in it. Plus, it is cool that we all have something to talk about. The monoculture is dying due to steaming, algorithms, and so on. It is easy to just consume the things that you like and to avoid things that everyone might see. The World Cup is finally something to talk about with others. Usually bringing up the big game from last night doesn’t work anymore. You really can’t and shouldn’t assume that everything is watching the same things anymore, but for a couple weeks every four years, it is at least fair to bring it up.

For more selfish reasons I also like the World Cup. Soccer is certainly popular in America, and there are many people who play it and watch it. However, it would shock no one that America’s most popular sport is still football, though this is slowly changing. For better or worse, I don’t know anything about football and quite frankly I really don’t care about it either. Therefore the World Cup is always nice for me because I always get to unashamedly enjoy soccer and can take pleasure in the fact that most of the world also likes this sport.

This World Cup has been confusing for me, as they always are. On the one hand, I have enjoyed watching many of the games and being able to watch the Germany games in public has been great. As a replacement for war and true tribal conflict, I have to respect FIFA and its tournament. That being said, I still find those who obsess over sports to be unreatable and somewhat childish. Maybe I am just not competitive enough or a good enough empath, but I still find a sports obsession to be a distraction at best and a dangerous idol at worst. I have enjoyed this World Cup and I will be happy to unpack my readiness to watch sports again in two years when the European Championship happens. Until then, may we continue to enjoy our tribal tendencies in the healthiest ways possible.

Panem et circenses.

“For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.” – Ecclesiastes 12:14 (ESV)