Photo/Illutration Argentina’s Lionel Messi, center, and his teammates celebrate at the end of the World Cup final soccer match against France at Lusail Stadium in Lusail, Qatar, on Dec. 18. (Shinnosuke Ito)

The month-long FIFA World Cup in Qatar, a global sporting extravaganza, drew to a close on Dec. 18. No serious problem occurred on the pitch, but there are reasons to stop short of calling the event a total success.

The tournament was overshadowed by scandals and controversies. During the event, Eva Kaili, one of the 14 vice presidents of the European Parliament, was indicted and dismissed as she was implicated in an alleged bribery scandal involving Qatar.

It is hard to claim any significant progress was made on the violations of the human rights of migrant workers hired to build facilities for the World Cup or on issues related to gender diversity in the country that were pointed out long before the tournament began.

Even though the World Cup is over, FIFA and the Qatar government need to make serious efforts to tackle these problems to regain the trust of the international community.

As symbolized by the final, which stretched to extra time and eventually a penalty kick shootout, this World Cup showcased the narrowed gaps in competitiveness among the participating national teams.

One factor behind this trend is the recent tactical shift toward high pressing, the tactic of pushing the defensive block high up the pitch as far as possible while applying intense and aggressive pressure in an attempt to regain possession of the ball for quick attacks.

One challenge posed by this tactical trend is the increased difficulty of refereeing matches marked by bold and attacking soccer played at a high mental and strategic speed in complicated tactical moves without clear borders between attacks and defenses.

The challenge has been tackled by new technologies to support referees, which have advanced markedly in recent years, including the video assistant referee system to prevent judging errors in decisive situations.

But these new technologies have not eliminated disputes over judgment calls.  Good refereeing requires an ability to maintain effective communication with the players as well as high judging capabilities.

One historical landmark for the FIFA World Cup in Qatar was the first use of female referees. An all-women refereeing team, the main referee and two assistants, took charge of the Costa Rica-Germany Group E match. Their solid performances will give an impetus to the global soccer refereeing community.

The World Cup will be sharply expanded to a tournament involving 48 teams, instead of 32, in 2026, when the event will be jointly hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico.

This expansion will inevitably make operational management more complex and difficult and place greater burdens on teams and players as they have to travel longer distances.

Soccer players were already showing signs of deep fatigue as they were struggling with physical and mental strains imposed by high pressing and tight schedules with matches held with only two or three days’ rest.

Planning the expanded World Cup should be done with meticulous care to prevent serious damage to the health of the players.

This expansion of the World Cup is FIFA’s attempt to change the high concentration of talent and money in major European leagues.

In Europe, however, the UEFA Nations League, a biennial international soccer competition among national teams, has been newly created, making the region’s professional soccer calendar even more crowded.

The challenge for the global soccer community is to ensure a well-balanced growth in the business.

Another key issue is soaring prices for broadcasting rights. In Japan, a Japanese live TV streaming website broadcast all matches of the World Cup in Qatar for free, while traditional TV networks had to keep a low profile. But the future outlook of World Cup broadcasting remains murky.

The World Cup is now at a major turning point under FIFA’s expansion-oriented agenda and the culture of commercialism.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Dec. 20

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