Football god gone crazy: the most incredible events of the year

The king of football dies

The last month of the outgoing year made us all worry about the life of one of the greatest football players in the world, three-time world champion, the legendary Pele. On November 30, he was admitted to the Albert Einstein Hospital in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The king of football’s condition deteriorated sharply in December due to a respiratory infection. The media reported that Pele, who is suffering from cancer, is no longer helped by chemotherapy; these procedures were discontinued, the ex-football player is being provided with palliative care. The daughters of the great football player, who are with him in the hospital, denied this information, but the latest photos that have hit the Internet make a painful impression.

Brazil has already begun to prepare for the funeral of Pele, who said goodbye to his family. Footage from a video has already appeared on social networks, which shows a gilded sarcophagus, decorated with bas-reliefs depicting the best moments of the great player’s career. Presumably, it will be installed at the Santos stadium, the club where Pelé spent most of his career. In addition, Santos placed a crown on its emblem as a sign of respect for the great football player.

The whole world is praying for Pele.

FIFA World Cup in Qatar

Scandals. The most important football event of the four years was held from November 20 to December 18 in Qatar. This, the 22nd in a row, the championship had a difficult fate. Immediately after the decision of FIFA on December 2, 2010 to hold this tournament in a small Middle Eastern state, a flurry of criticism and accusations fell upon its leaders and the host country. The decision was really unusual, because playing football in the summer in Qatar is almost impossible due to the heat. And as a result, for the first time in history, the championship was decided to be held in winter. This caused a lot of inconvenience to many international federations, primarily UEFA and European football unions, which had to interrupt their national competitions, which were in full swing.

In addition, Qatar was accused of all mortal sins, as a result of which, even during matches, some teams staged political protests. But football won in the end.

Favorite defeats. Many teams that were considered candidates for victory before the start of the tournament lost. The most important losers were the teams of Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Uruguay and Mexico, who completed their performances already at the group stage. Moreover, for the Germans, this fiasco was the second in a row after a similar result at the 18 World Cup in Russia. Doubly painful, since already in 2024 Germany will host the European Championship. Now in the football union of the country draw conclusions, conduct investigations and dismiss employees.

In the playoffs, the Spaniards, the British, the Dutch and the Brazilians joined this group of losers. Pentakampeony seriously hoped to take the sixth World Cup, they had a strong team, but the Croatians, led by their permanent captain Luka Modric, blocked their way to the semifinals. And the Portuguese team at the same stage was sent home by the Moroccan team, the World Cup sensation team in Qatar.

Another loser of the championship can be safely called Cristiano Ronaldo. Having quarreled with his club Manchester United, he failed to show anything outstanding in Qatar either. The star of the great football player in the recent past is nearing the end, and in the near future he will have an honorary sinecure – a game for the Saudi Al-Nasr with a multi-million dollar contract.

Moroccan miracle. The Atlas Lions under the leadership of Walid Regrari really became one of the main sensations of this tournament. Before the semi-finals with the French, they conceded only one goal, beating the Portuguese, Spaniards, Belgians and Canadians. And in the end, they took an honorable fourth place, losing to the Croats in the final match. The Senegalese, Japanese, South Koreans and Tunisians showed a very good game. And the victory of Saudi Arabia over the Argentines was one of the most interesting matches of the championship.

Fantastic ending. The final match has become a real decoration not only of this tournament, but of the entire football of the last decade. Exciting intrigue, amazing comebacks and, of course, new records for the main characters of this breathtaking performance – Messi and Mbappe. The Argentine finally won his World Cup, joining the cohort of legendary football players of all time, and the 22-year-old striker of the French national team and PSG scored the first ever hat-trick in the final match of the World Cup, becoming the top scorer of the entire competition.

If you suddenly get bored during the New Year holidays, be sure to review this game, which, of course, deserves to be even shown in cinemas on the big screen.

Sanctions against Russian football

For our football, the outgoing year has become a time of great trials and shocks, once again proving that sports life is inseparable from the life of the whole country and that only together can we overcome the difficulties and troubles that fall to our lot.

Having lost in the last match of the group stage to the Croats, the Russian team was preparing for the playoff round, where the lot first brought us together with the Poles, and then, in case of victory, either with the Czechs or with the Swedes. Both games were supposed to take place at Luzhniki, but back in January, Polish sports officials and football players began to insist on a match on a neutral field. And after the start of the CBO, they completely refused to play with us. UEFA and FIFA on February 28 also excluded us from all their tournaments. All of our appeals to the CAS Court of Arbitration for Sport came to nothing. He supported the decisions of international football authorities, completely taking their side.

As a result, many foreign players and coaches left the leading Russian clubs. The situation was so difficult, especially in Krasnodar, Rubin and Rostov, that some teams even suggested changing the format and number of participants in the Russian championship. However, the RFU decided to leave everything as it is, and Zenit, who managed to keep their leading foreign players, once again became the champion of Russia.

The national team, which had not played with anyone for almost a year, finally found partners for friendly matches – colleagues from the CIS came to the rescue. In September, we beat the Kyrgyz 2:1, and in November we tied with the teams of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. These two matches left not the most pleasant impression in terms of quality and content due to the lack of tournament motivation. When UEFA also excluded us from the qualifying round for the European Championship in 2024, the issue of moving from the European association to the Asian Football Confederation began to be seriously discussed.

The final decision must be made at the RFU Executive Committee on December 30, 2022. But even joining the AFC does not guarantee us participation in the 2026 World Cup, since FIFA sanctions are also imposed for an indefinite period.

Failed Champions League final in Paris

Not only Russian football suffered from UEFA sanctions. The Champions League final match of the 21/22 season, in which Real Madrid and Liverpool met, was moved from St. Petersburg to Paris, which was simply not ready to host such a high level game. Thousands of Liverpool fans were unable to enter the stadium, the police dispersed them with batons and tear gas. This had a bad effect on the image of the capital of France, which is preparing to host the 2024 Olympic Games.

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And yet this football year was not the worst. Because there were much more bright, memorable matches, new records and interesting events in it than various problems and troubles. And most importantly, football is alive. And every day gives us new emotions.