Maintenance in progress

the world cup final in new york is commanding maximal global attention: resale tickets near $2.3 million, fifa selling $3,000 patches of pitch grass, and the us president publicly boasting that he pressured fifa's president to soften a us player's suspension — an open admission of political interference in the sport's governing body, made at a reception with that same president. meanwhile a uk political party formally urged the fa and uefa to withdraw from fifa, and the 2030 final is already a diplomatic tussle between morocco and spain. the spectacle's governance is bending in public, and the visa-restriction campaign and hormuz escalation both landed in its shadow.

international sports and wire coverage