World Cup seating swap controversy: Part II. Plus: Neymar in Cincinnati talks over move

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Plus: Neymar in Cincinnati talks over moveArrowhead Stadium will be a World Cup venue Jamie Squire/Getty Images Share full articleThe Athletic FC ⚽ is The Athletic’s daily football (or soccer, if you prefer) newsletter. Sign up to receive it directly to your inbox. Hello! Another day, another ticketing pivot from FIFA. What the heck is “Front Category 1”? Stand by for more World Cup ticket antics — and to anybody whose immediate response is “not more bloody World Cup ticket antics”, I can only say: if FIFA let this lie quietly, so would we. On Wednesday, we highlighted the jiggery-pokery by which the world governing body had surreptitiously given seats in Category 2 areas of World Cup stadiums to buyers who paid Category 1 prices. Henry Bushnell spoke to numerous people who felt like they’d been duped. Category 1, by definition, was taken as meaning the best tickets going, give or take. At any game, there are corporate packages which offer more than the allocation of a basic seat alone, and have the highest prices to match. But, aside from these areas, prospective purchasers reasonably assumed that FIFA’s Category 1 band was its top tier. It couldn’t have been, however, because Henry’s latest revelation is that last week, FIFA launched sales of a new category which supersedes Category 1. It’s called “Front Category 1”. It offers prime locations, and in some instances, seats in those zones cost twice as much as standard Category 1. For one USMNT match, for example, you’d be looking at a markup of almost $1,500. These tickets have been made available for at least 20 of the World Cup’s 104 matches, and just to complicate matters further, a “Front Category 2” bracket has also materialised. Henry did his level best to spell it all out to people like me, who increasingly need FIFA’s behaviour explained in words of one syllable. The suspicion among the many who bid for Category 1 tickets is that “Front Category 1” was planned from the start — and therefore, they had little to no chance of landing the most sought-after seats, despite paying what they believed was top whack. “That was never going to happen,” to quote a voice from Henry’s report. In defending its strategy, FIFA often hides behind legislation in the United States, saying it is powerless to control the market there. While that is true to a degree, it could at least give the impression that it has any qualms at all about the inordinate costs of tickets (some for the World Cup final are going for $10,000) — or try harder to make the selling process crystal clear. Henry asked FIFA to explain the emergence of the “Front Category”. It has yet to respond. Excellent. Seven years at Manchester United could have broken Harry Maguire. The road has been long and hard, and at intermittent points, life in the Old Trafford bubble turned him into a figure of fun. He’s evidently blessed with a thick skin, however, because he’s stuck it out and he’s signing up for more. Earlier this week, he and United finalised a contract extension, running to 2027 and potentially beyond. That was Mark Critchley’s cue to interview Maguire about his tribulations in Manchester (and his harder times with the England national team, too). It proved to be a forthright conversation, and you’ll get the gist of its tone from these snippets. Suffice to say, the centre-back isn’t prone to beating around the bush: 🗣️ “I’m arguably one of the best defenders in the world in both boxes. I don’t think that’s open to question, really.” 🗣️ “I see a lot of players come into this club and, quite frankly, it’s just too big for them. The eyes on, the scrutiny, the analysis. Every goal that goes in, it’s someone’s fault.” 🗣️ “I actually think, six of the (seven) seasons, I’ve performed really well. When you’re Manchester United captain and when you’re a central defender, you can’t get away with struggling.” Whether you follow United or rate Maguire, you’ll take plenty away from Mark’s article. And you’ll get a firm idea of why the club wanted Maguire to stick around. The Athletic has a new signing: former Premier League referee Graham Scott. He joins us as a regular columnist today (stop booing at the back) and his first missive is superb, doubtless helped by the fact that he once trained as a journalist. The theme of his article is, pure and simple, that Scott hates the Premier League’s video assistant referee system (VAR) as much as anyone. I found this particular quote extraordinary: “Despite sitting in the video assistant referee chair more than 100 times, I never did discover what the phrase ‘clear and obvious error’ really means.” Which is funny when you think that the whole point of VAR is to overturn “clear and obvious” blunders. His comment suggests the men and women tasked with staffing VAR either lack confidence in it or find it perplexing. Scott recalled taking an age to award a goal to Coventry City in the FA Cup, as checks were made for offside and handball. The officials were cast as killjoys, but Scott says they were victims of “a video review system that is not fit for purpose” — and of laws which leave VAR on a hiding to nothing. I can tell already that I’m going to like these columns. And it’s high time for some honest discourse around VAR, driven by those who have seen inside the sausage factory. Plenty of people would like to see video reviews scrapped altogether. Scott appears to have at least one foot in their camp. Friday (all 3pm/8pm): Premier League: West Ham United vs Wolverhampton Wanderers — USA Network/Sky Sports; Championship: West Bromwich Albion vs Millwall — CBS, Paramount+, Amazon Prime/Sky Sports; La Liga: Real Madrid vs Girona – ESPN/LaLigaTV. Saturday: Premier League: Arsenal vs Bournemouth, 7.30am/12.30pm — USA Network/TNT Sports; Liverpool vs Fulham, 12.30pm/5.30pm — NBC, Peacock Premium/Sky Sports; La Liga: Barcelona vs Espanyol, 12.30pm/5.30pm — ESPN, Fubo/Premier Sports; German Bundesliga: St. Pauli vs Bayern Munich, 12.30pm/5.30pm — ESPN/Sky Sports; Serie A: Milan vs Udinese, 12pm/5pm – Paramount+, Fubo, DAZN/DAZN; MLS: Portland Timbers vs LAFC, 4.45pm/9.45pm — Fox, Apple TV, Fubo/Apple TV; Inter Miami vs New York Red Bulls, 7.30pm/12.30am — Apple TV in both regions. Sunday: Premier League: Sunderland vs Tottenham Hotspur, 9am/2pm; Chelsea vs Manchester City, 11.30am/4.30pm — both USA Network/Sky Sports; Championship: Birmingham City vs Wrexham, 7am/12pm — Paramount+/Sky Sports; Serie A: Como vs Inter, 2.45pm/7.45pm — Paramount+, DAZN/TNT Sports, DAZN. The highlight of Nottingham Forest’s 1-1 draw at Porto in the Europe League’s quarter-finals last night was Porto’s Martim Fernandes conceding this early own goal from not far off the halfway line. Six minutes after his freak concession, he left the pitch injured. You know those days when you shouldn’t have bothered getting out of bed? Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Phil grew up near Edinburgh in Scotland and joined The Athletic in 2019 as its Leeds United writer. He is now lead writer of The Athletic FC newsletter. He previously worked for the Yorkshire Evening Post as its chief football writer. Follow Phil on Twitter @PhilHay_