Tuesday Column By VICTORIA NGOZI IKEANO
vikeano@yahoo.co.uk 08033077519
World Cup 2026 ends in a fortnight and some happenings around it have already caught my eye. Let me state straight away again that I am not a football fan. A fan often described as die-hard follower is one that is prepared to forego his breakfast or lunch just so as to save some money to watch his favourite game at a viewing centre. He is that person who when his favourite team loses a match becomes morose, loses appetite and would not eat for rest of the day. A football fan is one for whom a football match is a sort of tonic that ‘gingers’ him up. I am not any of the above. Besides as a lady I am not so attached to a football game for the simple reason that in the natural order of things, football being a coarse activity is meant exclusively for men.
For decades I have opposed the participation of women in coarse, positive kinds of activities as football, weightlifting, boxing, etc.; because they are harmful to both body and soul. Our (women) long time involvement in these men’s kind of activities gradually erode and wither off that which makes us a woman, ultimately making us coarse ourselves. What distinguish a woman from a man are not just the external genitals; rather a woman has implanted in her something which a man does not possess. It is a ‘thread of substantiality’ from higher realms, the Kingdom of God. This is a gift of the Creator to women to enable them fulfil their sacred physical and spiritual tasks here on earth.
So, even if a man were to have all the necessary organs, he cannot birth a child because there is a missing link; he does not have the ‘bridge’ that enables a human being to incarnate into a growing physical body in the womb which happens in the middle of pregnancy with the first kicks of the unborn baby. Women that overtime indulge in coarse, positive, masculine activities, sooner or later become distorted souls (same for men that engage themselves over a long period with negative, fine, feminine activities). There are two types of such people, namely, those tending towards being distorted souls and those that are already distorted souls. Therewith, we see women resembling men, having some physical features of a male and vice versa. This distortion also brings forth aberrations like lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (LGBTQ) characteristics…..
Therefore, this piece is not based on the pitch ground footballing (that is for male football experts to analyse) but is a random musing of some other matters around this on-going World Cup. Nigeria is not participating in this competition but Nigerians are in the magnificent football fields in Mexico, US and Canada, the host nations. Though representing other countries far flung away from Nigeria, their undiluted names which they wear like an epaulet tell the story of their undeniable roots. Nigeria may take pride in them and proudly claim them as its own too. Although I have not taken any census myself, it is not impossible, from a random check that more than any African country, Nigeria has the highest number of players with roots in its country, playing for adopted nations in this tournament. These are players that were born in these other countries and so automatically became citizens thereof.
My geography expanded with discovery of a country named Curacao. I never ever was aware or heard of it until now. Curious about it, I discovered in researching about it that it is a Southern Carribean island in the continent of South America and that it is about 65 kilometres off the coast of Venezuela. The capital of Curacao is Willemstad. Citizens of that country are called Curacaoans and they speak Papiamento (a variant of Creole), Dutch, English. According to a 2024 World Bank figures, it is inhabited by less than 200,000 persons. In other words its population is no more than that of a town in Nigeria.
I got to know at this World Cup that in Norwagian culture, people commonly take both their maternal and paternal surnames as their own surnames. This came to light following enquiry about why Norway’s number 9 shirts read, ‘Braut Haaland’. Before now the player had always been known as ‘Haaland’ in England where he plies his trade.
We are told that the essence of sports of any kind, not least football is sportsmanship, to foster friendship among participants cum countries and ultimately engender peace; which is why at every game players shake hands with their opponents while coaches of both teams similarly shake hands and even pat each other on the back at the start and end of the match. United States of America, one of the host nations did not entirely imbibe this fundamental sports principle with its discriminatory, disrespectful treatment of some teams at customs entry points. Senegalese, Colombian team members, were among those that had sniffer dogs nosing around them and their luggage like suspected criminals. An Ivory Coast player was denied entry by the US. Ditto Africa’s best referee who was billed to officiate at the tournament.
Even more worrisome is US’ treatment of the Iranian team and staff accompanying them some of whom were also denied entry visas. The team had to relocate their base from US to Mexico. Even then they were only allowed to come in for their US matches hours to kick off time and mandated to return to their Mexico base as soon as the match ended, same day. This made their coach to declare that they were “the most oppressed” team in this World Cup, urging FIFA not to allow a repeat of what was meted to the Iranian team by any future host. One had thought that the US is at war with the government of Iran and not its people.
There was some drama among Iranian fans within and outside the stadium. By the way these are mainly Iranians living in US, most of whom had become citizens before President Donald Trump’s clampdown on immigrants. While they all wholeheartedly supported the Iranian team, there was a marked difference in their paraphernalia. Some were waving the country’s current official flag while some others waved its old flag that had symbol of the sun and a lion on it. I learnt that they did not qualify for the next round of the competition. Football experts say it was due to cancelation by VAR (video assistant referee) of a winning goal they scored against Egypt in the dying minutes of their last group match which would have automatically qualified them for the knockout stage. Again the Iranians would have felt done in by ‘US soil’. Notwithstanding their travails, the Iranian team still left a sweet note in their Los Angeles changing room. It read: “From the ancient Persia of thousands of years ago to the civilized country of today, the spirit of Iran remains alive and steadfast. We came to Los Angeles with pride, competed with honour and leave with dignity. Thank you Los Angeles for your hospitality and thank you every Iranian who gave their heart, voice and soul for Iran throughout. May peace respect and friendship prevail among nations”.
A rather touchy news was the death of Cody Gakpo’s unborn child while he was on duty for Netherlands. However, the player elected to still stay with his teammates and continue playing rather than fly home immediately to give his partner emotional support. Van der Bij, his partner, broke the news herself in a post that read: “With broken hearts we share this devastating news that our baby boy passed away during pregnancy”. France head coach, Didier Deschamps lost his mother. He handed over the team to his assistant as he rushed home for her funeral, returning a few days later to continue his job.
A striking feature of World Cup 2026 for me is the prize money. Each of the 48 teams got a minimum of 10 million dollars for qualifying for this tournament. That is about N1.38 billion. Then for kicking the ball at the tournament proper on the soil of the host nations, that is, participating, each is guaranteed another minimum of 12 and half million dollars which is over N1.6 billion. These amounts include money to help each of them prepare well for the competition, accommodation and flight tickets for the players, staff and other ancillary officials. Overall, each of them is receiving over three billion naira at least. FIFA must be swimming in money to be able to afford to give away such humongous sums of money to each of the 48 World Cup 2026 participating teams.
