Club World Cup - a fine example of FIFA's competence

[BlueinBosnia]

I was sure someone (Peter Parker?) had posted something about the Club World Cup on here, but can't find the post/thread...

Anyway, the Club World Cup passed most people by, it seems, seeing as it was only organized in December, with the host country and dates being announced on 16th December, slap-bang between the WC semis and the third-place/final.

A friend of mine is a Flamengo fan, and lives in Europe. Morocco being much closer than Brazil (and easier to fly to for a short visit), he decided to head over for the final round, with both games due to be played in Rabat on 11 February. Simple itinerary: fly to Marrakech, train up to Rabat, watch the game, late night bus back down, fly back.

Or so he thought.

FIFA, in their ever fan-centric benevolence, decided to switch the third-place game to Tangier, only informing fans on the 9 February. Oddly, it seems press and sponsors were already aware of the decision by this time, and had made changes to their itinerary accordingly. Due to the flights he'd booked, he ended up having to miss the game altogether, because there was no guarantee that the free transport FIFA put on to alleviate the inconvenience they caused would allow him to catch the bus back to Marrakech in time.

It seems he's not the only one to have been affected: the game had 17,000 fewer spectators than Al Ahly vs. Auckland City, which was played in the same stadium a few days earlier.

[PeterParker]

Yes, I posted that I've read they teste the rugby version of VAR, with the dialogue on both on tv and in the stadium.

I think PIGMOL are going crazy.

[BlueinBosnia]

Yes, I posted that I've read they teste the rugby version of VAR, with the dialogue on both on tv and in the stadium.

I think PIGMOL are going crazy.

I think the dialogue is a great idea, personally. However, I'm still suspicious about the fact that it's taken so long for it to come in, especially due to the fact that the frame rate of recording for VAR purposes has been proven to be insufficient to provide a reliable verdict in close calls - it stinks of governing bodies basically just trying to cover their own failures. VAR should be cancelled altogether until the technology has improved, or be completely ignored where it's determined there's less than (approximately) 0.5 metres in an offside call, which would require two completely separate VAR teams - the first to determine whether VAR footage can be reliably analyzed, and the second to analyze it.