given the current political situation, with russias open hostility towards the west and anti-democratic developement (election meddling, assassinations, deliberate bombing of civilians, sham elections, jailing of opposition...), as well as the questionable manner in which they 'won' the bid for the WC in the first place, would you be in favour of a ban? or do you think politics should have no influence on football at all?

personally i'm torn a little. on the one hand i don't think it would achieve much in terms of actual change, on the other hand this would be a massive blow to putin's ego and image considering how important such prestigious events (like the sochi winter olympics in 2014) are to him. i understand both sides, but considering how interconnected and inseperable football and politics are already, i'd support the decision not to participate.

just to be clear, this is most likely NOT happening barring some major escalation in the coming weeks, but i'd still be interested to see what you guys think.

Absolutely .

Soccer pales in comparison to human lives .


That said as bad as Russia is .... do you really think the western governments are much better ? Especially the old US of A in terms of the freedoms their citizens are granted ?
Do you really think our elections aren’t a sham ?
Do you really think we don’t assasinate people ?

LOL OF COURSE WE DONT. WE ARE THE GOOD ONE, CIA ONLY MAKE BBQ.
/irony

Of course not, Russia clearly isnt a problem

This post was edited by ShaY on Mar 24 2018 07:41am

Absolutely, both of my countries are doing so this year

Chile and the US are boycotting this horrible corrupt tournament/country.

No way. Leave politics outside of sports. I would only support a boycott based on stuff like corruption during the host selection process (which there might have been in Russia's case, but this isn't proven), but never on political grounds. Even if it's in North Korea or whatever, I wouldn't support a boycott.

i am not happy about the circumstances of that world cup at all, however a tournament boycott only makes sense when all the big nations refuse to go

i would rather boycott FIFA, their corruption has made this possible and they will continue to give to world cups to shitholes for money

It's too late now, yes but only if most of the major footballing countries supported it together.

Very interesting points on both sides. 🤔🤔

Are we just going to pretend this isn't hilarious?

Only if I get a refund