Has the FIFA World Cup always been rigged with favoritism and unfair calls?

[Vesuvius87]

I've wondered out of those Fifa World Cup soccer games, how many of them were really fair and square where it a team won without a free penalty kick, no obvious foul committed, no deliberate diving to purposely call for a penalty when there wasn't, no anulment of an obvious goal, etc.

Has it always been corrupted and played favoritism so the top teams always win even when an underdog was playing better and when winning in the beginning, until either their goal was unfairly annuled or the top team got unfairly awarded a penalty kick because they couldn't win without it?

[NathanDavis]

no

but people will always whine and complain and conspiranoidly theorize about that, yes...

after all... the World Cup will have 47 nations losing... and thinking that everyone and their grandmas were against them and it was all, oh... so unfair, lol

[Vesuvius87]

The 1986 World Cup quaterfinal (Argentina vs English) handball from Maradona was unfair. That was clearly cheating.

[NathanDavis]

cheating has always been part of ALL and every major sport out there... not only the World Cup

cheating exists, yes... cheating is unfair, also yes

but... favoritism and rigged games are way more rare, it does exists, yes

but you are talking about "always" and that, no... it is not always like that

[DryGermanGuy]

More plagued than maliciously rigged, but that is something every large sports tournament has to deal with. I just really hate these weird new referee/VAR rules, which have so far turned three games onto their head! That has to be corrected! 🤬👎

[Vesuvius87]

In the 1986 World Cup Quarter Final (Argentina vs England) for instance, that was unfair. Maradona (cheater) clearly punched the ball into the net. That wasn't a valid goal and the score would've probably ended 1-1 and likely gone to penalties. I wonder who would've won if that non-goal had been denied.

[DryGermanGuy]

Good example, a worse one for us Germans is the infamous "ghost-goal" of Wembley, in the 1966 World Cup final.

[AI Opinion]

World Cups haven’t “always” been rigged, but they’ve never been perfectly fair either. ⚽

There’s a mix of human error, pressure, and at times real corruption or favoritism (like political influence in early tournaments or scandals around certain referees). Diving, soft penalties and missed fouls happen a lot, but VAR has reduced some blatant mistakes. Upsets still occur: 2002 Turkey, 2010 Uruguay, 2022 Morocco all broke through despite big-name rivals.

[loveslongnails]

FIFA is a criminal organization. Isn't it clear there are many refs who are paid off?

[Vesuvius87]

It makes it harder to enjoy a real, fair game where the winner really worked hard to deserve that won and the other team recognizes it. Fewer games are fair like that.

[loveslongnails]

Any game or sport that has an outside body refereeing it will always be subject to bias, corruption and incompetence. That's one reason why golf is great game because you are your own referee and there's no outside interference except in a few circumstances. The rules violations are cut and dry. It has been disheartening at best to see teams get sent home for referee's bad decisions, or bought decisions.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I believe so.

[Iron_Man]

Poor Norway

[Vesuvius87]

yeah their 2nd goal got annuled

[Iron_Man]

I know it’s a shame

[Iron_Man]

Did you see the Argentina game there is more problems tonight with the referees

[Vesuvius87]

yeah briefly when they removed a Switzerland player after issuing him a red card, making it easier from Argentina to win with 1 man less.

[Iron_Man]

That wasn’t fair