World Cup 2026

Toronto, June 19

There are only very very few things better than Aki Tuna tacos at the Andaman sea, enjoyed together with your medical advisor, but one thing is: riding a big mean motorcycle of the size of a tanker and the acceleration of a sports car at night through an unknown metropolis. Akira comes to mind, and Fritz Lang. Luc Bessonś Fifth Element and Blade Runner….

Thee can be no doubt: in my limited life span I have never participated in anything that is so unashamedly dominated by pure, ruthless and unlimited greed than this World Cup. In its brutal aggressive form executed here it’s a shock. And this greed is not a privilege of FIFA…And, there are only minor differences between the US and Canada. The ticket market is dominated by big commercial players that prefer to waste hundreds of tickets then to let prices drop below 1.000 Dollars. Bar owners are selling their parking lots near the stadium for 300 Dollar. The tickets that the DFB has handed to its Fanclub for 60 Dollar are reappearing on the black market for 1.200. The official Fanfest is giving away a limited number of free tickets and additional „VIP“-tickets can be bought for 60€, coming with a patch of grass to sit on. Beers in the stadium 20 Dollar, chocolate bars 8. Plus 20%tips…The sports bar we saw the Canadian game in charged 50 Dollar for a seat plus drinks. The Canadian Football Association is charging 35€ for access to the Fanpark…Countries that are embracing capitalism to the fullest even in „normal“ days are using the World Cup to drive the system to its extremes: maximum profit. Foreign fans have mainly 2 functions: delivering the pictures of joy, excitement and fandom that the corporate world needs to sell its products and produce their video snippets and the swipe of our credit cards.

And then there is Wokistan….The Hotel, complete with rainbow flags and safe space sticker has a sign at the reception, that inappropriate behavior based on gender, sexual preferences….you get it, is not allowed. A poster in the hallway „celebrates“ the different backgrounds of the staff and asks for respect. The streets have more gay flags and feminist posters than the US Stars and Stripes. On the way to the Gym I pass signs celebrating the black contribution to Canadian history, house sized posters that demand diversity, the Gym has a safe space for woman, a declaration of diversity in the entrance, the coffee shop after the Gym has a rainbow flag colored chocolate topping. What has happened? Have I arrived in one of the most liberal, democratic, gay friendly countries in the world or a war zone? Maybe we can send some of those flags to Karachi? Teheran? Uganda? Nigeria? Places where my fellow brothers really need any support they can get?

But despite all issues, that plague all Northern American cities, the drug wave, the painful gap between rich and poor, the in parts awful infrastructure: Toronto is a breath of fresh air. A walkable city, excellent food at any corner, a multi cultural city, the water can be smelled at every step. The lightness of a free and relaxed city. Bears in drag. Asian punks and Hipsters from Beirut…. And football has arrived here. The Canadian team won 6:0 yesterday, flags are flying, nearly all small talk – and there is a lot of small talk here – centers around the games. It is a new found love, it doesn’t have the profound analysis of a football bar in Barcelona or Milan, but it is genuine and heartfelt and reaches the whole society. It’s a sports nation, unmistakably…

Matchday tomorrow. Nervousness rising…