How’s your faith in football holding up, then? Perhaps you like celebrating goals. Well, in the era of VAR, it can feel like the authorities are actively seeking to take that away. You might assume that rules should apply equally. Not if you’re Cristiano Ronaldo, the biggest star at the upcoming World Cup, who has seen a two-game ban overturned without precedent that will allow him to start Portugal’s opening games.
One of the hosts of that World Cup has been bombing one of the participating teams. And the president of that host country does not think they should play their games there “for their own life and safety”. So, fair enough, the country being bombed does not want to play its games in the country bombing them. But ask Fifa what they think and a spokesperson will point you to the sanctity of its match schedule; nothing to see here. And then there’s just what happened in the Premier League with Chelsea.
