Imagine the 2030 FIFA World Cup kicking off without the Netherlands, France, Spain, Germany….
No sea of orange in the stands. No “Hup Holland Hup” echoing through the stadiums. No chance to watch the next generation of Dutch stars compete for football’s biggest prize.
Just a World Cup without Oranje.
Only a few weeks ago, such a scenario would have sounded impossible. Today, it is no longer unthinkable.
The growing conflict between FIFA and UEFA has reached a level that European football has rarely seen before. At the center of the dispute is FIFA president Gianni Infantino’s proposal to place the commercial rights of the World Cup and other FIFA competitions into a new commercial entity and sell a minority stake to private investors. FIFA argues that the move would generate billions to develop football around the world. UEFA sees something very different: the commercialization of football’s most prestigious tournament.
Politics Enters the Picture
The controversy deepened after reports emerged about the identities of some of the potential investors. According to Belgian newspaper Nieuwsblad, one of the candidates is Joshua Kushner, the brother of Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of U.S. President Donald Trump. The newspaper also reported that several other prospective investors are believed to have close ties to President Trump.
Whether these political connections would have any influence over football is impossible to know. But their mere existence raises uncomfortable questions. Football has always claimed to be politically neutral, yet its biggest competition now risks becoming intertwined with billionaire investors who have strong political connections.
FIFA Hasn’t Earned the Benefit of the Doubt
The problem is that this proposal does not arrive in a vacuum.
FIFA’s credibility has been damaged for years.
The corruption investigations that erupted in 2015 exposed widespread bribery and corruption involving senior football officials and shattered the image of FIFA as a trustworthy governing body. Although reforms followed, many supporters have never fully regained their confidence in the organization.
Then came the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Regardless of the quality of football on the pitch, the tournament remained overshadowed by controversy over the bidding process, the treatment of migrant workers and the growing influence of politics and money on the world’s biggest sporting event.
The 2026 World Cup Raised Even More Questions
If FIFA hoped the 2026 World Cup would restore confidence, many supporters came away with the opposite feeling.
Throughout the tournament, social media and football talk shows were filled with accusations that FIFA and Gianni Infantino appeared unusually close to Lionel Messi and defending champions Argentina. There is no evidence proving FIFA manipulated matches or influenced results, but the widespread perception itself highlighted how fragile trust in football’s governing body has become.
At the same time, Infantino’s increasingly visible relationship with Donald Trump drew further criticism. Public appearances together, political symbolism surrounding the tournament and now reports that investors close to Trump’s circle could acquire a stake in the commercial future of the World Cup create an uncomfortable image for an organization that repeatedly claims to stand above politics.
Whether fair or unfair, many fans increasingly feel that football’s biggest tournament is becoming associated with powerful political figures, billionaire investors and commercial interests rather than the supporters who made it the greatest sporting event on Earth.
The Boycott Nobody Wants
UEFA’s response has been unusually strong. Reports suggest Europe’s governing body is considering every possible option—including a boycott of future FIFA competitions if relations continue to deteriorate.
If UEFA were ever to organize such a boycott, the Netherlands would almost certainly stand alongside its European partners.
That would mean no Oranje at the World Cup.
Imagine a tournament without the Netherlands, Germany, France, Spain, England, Italy, Portugal or Belgium. It would still carry the World Cup name, but it would lose much of the quality, history and prestige that makes it special.
A Massive Blow for Dutch Football
For Dutch supporters, the consequences would be enormous.
The Netherlands has reached three World Cup finals and has given the world Total Football, Johan Cruyff, Marco van Basten, Dennis Bergkamp and countless unforgettable memories. Future generations deserve the opportunity to write their own history—not become victims of a political and commercial conflict.
Players dream of representing Oranje on football’s biggest stage. Losing that opportunity because of a dispute between FIFA and UEFA would be devastating.
Is Football Becoming an Investment Product?
There is nothing wrong with attracting investment to grow football. FIFA argues that additional funding will help develop the game around the world.
But private equity firms do not invest billions out of charity.
They expect returns.
That raises a fundamental question: once investors own part of the commercial engine behind the World Cup, how long will it be before they demand even greater revenues?
More matches.
More tournaments.
More sponsors.
Higher ticket prices.
More commercial influence.
Football has already reached a point where players are overloaded and supporters complain about an endless calendar. Selling the commercial future of the World Cup risks pushing the game even further away from the people who made it the world’s most beloved sport.
Football Deserves Better
Gianni Infantino often speaks about making football more global.
Few supporters oppose that goal.
But leadership is measured by trust, not by the size of television contracts or investment funds.
Today, FIFA is asking football supporters to trust an organization whose reputation has been damaged by years of scandals, while simultaneously asking them to accept billionaire investors—some reportedly connected to one of the world’s most polarizing political figures—buying into football’s greatest tournament.
That contradiction is difficult to ignore.
The World Cup should unite nations.
It should not become a symbol of boardroom politics, financial engineering and political connections.
For the sake of Oranje—and for football supporters across the world—we can only hope that FIFA and UEFA find common ground.
Because the greatest tragedy would not be a financial dispute.
It would be a World Cup without the Netherlands, and a tournament that slowly loses the trust of the very fans who made it the greatest sporting event on Earth.
This is a very unfortunate story. FIFA is already very profitable and making billions with every world cup. And this year’s numbers were all time highs. I don’t know all the details yet as to what this is planning to do with investors and upfront money that FIFA claims will distribute to federations and countries, but it looks like a solution to a problem that does not exist.
And is UEFA unified in this? Are all countries going to boycott? What if Italy or Turkey or some others decide they don’t want to miss out on a WC. And the next WC is to be hosted by Spain/Portugal/Morocco, and opening games in Argentina/Uruguay/Paraguay. FIFA will need to move the tournament to S. America.
I just hope cooler heads prevail and this doesn’t break the game.
A “problem that doesn’t exist,” bingo. Well said. Except that a certain few always see the failure to scrape every nickel out any event as a “problem.” If it goes forward, future world cups will make the 2026 WC look like a charity event. So sad.
There’s honestly no way that a World Cup will go forward in the face of a European boycott. The whole thing is just silliness! Besides, I don’t know how much more $ FIFA can extract from the games after these latest ticket prices.
It’s official
Slot had turned the job down. That would be a shame if the KNVB gives the NT to Rieziger. Zero experience, a total disaster with the U21.
WOW
“The team is in a decline and we will appoint Reiziger to save it. The reason is he did so well at U21 and we want to replicate that result at NT”
<- This is the same Frank De Boer move again.
Ok, Slot is out, he does not want to take it. Why would he negotiate with Liverpool for subsidizing his NT salary and then not taking it? I guess something really bad must happen in the negotiation. Given the logic from KNVB, I think these clowns pull some of the insane demand (like we decide X, Y, Z and you only do A, because we gave Koeman total freedom and it does not work. Something along that line will fit them well). Without Slot, there are still many other candidates out there. Hell, even Van Bommel choice that Belgium took is more reasonable than this. Eddie Howe is available.
But no, taking a whole one month to pick the worst candidate. This is incompetent to the root. If this happens, I will check out. Watching another national team as a neutral is more fun than following those lunatics taking millions in salary and do nothing.
I’m by no means a Reiziger guy, but even if we brought in de la Fuente or Scaloni, do we really think it’s going to make an appreciable difference? We could’ve advanced probably a couple more rounds in this tournament, but most likely were not going to win it. To do so, we are going to have to start to develop world class attacking players again. Where are this generation’s Marco van Bastens , Dennis Bergkamps and Arjen Robbens? Where are our Gullits and Sneijders and van der Vaarts? We have ceased to develop these types of players for whatever reason, and until we start to do so again, we are going to be on the outside, looking in, regardless of who the manager is at any given moment.
20 years ago these players would stay longer in Holland, being able to develop much more then nowadays. IF a big talent is 20 years by now many times he already signed a big contract abroad and warms the bench….
Career planning is difficult if a huge amount of money come your way (and your manager). Sumemrville a great example of people choosing $$$
@JB: To me, there are two separate problems: the short term and the long term.
In the short term, we need to appoint someone who can make this team competitive again. I don’t expect this squad to win the World Cup. I do expect them to stop being a laughingstock.
When Ziyech chose Morocco and played at the World Cup while we stayed home, many people dismissed it as a one-off mistake by the coach. Looking back, it wasn’t. It was the beginning of a trend. Morocco, as a football nation, has been willing to use every available resource to improve. Meanwhile, the Netherlands looked backward, relying on older generations while struggling to develop the next one.
Years ago, Ziyech’s decision seemed unconventional. Today, it’s becoming the expectation that dual-nationality talents will choose Morocco over the Netherlands. Just look at the highly rated youngster born in Amsterdam who broke into Ajax’s first team this season—he also chose Morocco. That’s the danger we’re facing. Smaller football nations are overtaking us because they’re making better decisions. We need a short-term fix before we slide even further.
The long-term issues are even more serious. Our youth development system isn’t working. There is no clear pathway for talented players to reach the highest level. As a result, many end up making random moves to clubs across Europe, where their development stalls.
Fixing that requires real coordination between the KNVB and the clubs. But if the people in charge can’t even solve the short-term problems, why should anyone believe they’re capable of addressing the structural ones?
What’s even more concerning is that I don’t think they’ll do anything at all. Nigel de Jong said, “The expectation is to reach the semi-finals, and ultimately win the World Cup. Koeman didn’t deliver.”
That raises a simple question: based on what?
This team spent two years failing to beat top opponents—and not even Poland. Yet we’re supposed to believe the expectation was to beat teams like France and reach the semi-finals? Those expectations were never grounded in reality.
To me, those comments were made for public consumption. No accountability, no responsibility, just a convenient statement to close the chapter and carry on as before.
And frankly, I don’t understand the insistence that the national team coach must be Dutch. If the qualification is simply to fail, wouldn’t it be cheaper to hire a foreign coach? Or better yet, bring in a successful coach from a smaller football nation who has shown they can outperform expectations.
I know exactly the reason why they always picked Dutch coaches. Because appointing foreiner needs analysis and research. But those people took well paying jobs and did nothing. Hope it is clear for everyone to see.
Thanks Kevin. I think this is a really thoughtful analysis and lots of truth spoken! It’s funny because when I look back at our 2008 and 2010 teams – probably the best attacking teams we’ve had since the late 1990s — and we had numerous skilled attacking players, like Sneijder, Robben, van Persie and van der Vaart, but were lacking in quality defenders, particularly center backs. Fast-forward 16 years and we’re now a center back factory, but with very few if any truly star attacking players capable of such individual brilliance. Obviously some of this is cyclical, but the 70s teams, the late 80s teams, the late 90s teams, and the late 2000s teams all included those types of players. Those ten year periods each produced a number of amazing international attacking talents. But since 2014, that pipeline seems to have run dry. Are potential Dutch players with that skill set choosing to play for other nations? Are they leaving the Netherlands too soon and stagnating in bigger leagues? Are Dutch teams no longer emphasizing and developing those types of players? I think these are all questions we’ll need to answer to return to the forefront of world football.
I personally like this boycot idea. FIFA has been a monster for years. Time to be principled and walk away from the madness. The WC2026 was a joke with the drink breaks, the 30 min half time show and the bad officiating.
I would not mind this, as something better will come out of it. Let’s give Infantino the finger.
As for Slot: I am happy. I am a Slot fan, I want to see him perform weekly with a club. The NT will wait. He’s only 47 years old.
As one of my previous posts demonstrated, you don’t need a former top player or top coach to coach the NT. Different profile.
I trust Nigel and Clarence to do the right thing. Give the job to Van Nistelrooy, with Reiziger, Jonk and Maurice Steijn.
I am a Slot fan in that I want to see him succeed. Right now, the top 6 clubs in England all have their manager’s position filled. Newcastle just got a new manager.
I’m not sure which German club would be ideal. I would guess he would want the top 2 or 3? They all seem to have someone already in charge. Same in Spain.
I don’t really see him in Italy, France, or some rumors at Al Ahly in Saudi.
Time is also running out. He already wasted a lot of time. Most teams are now ready to start the season soon. He missed out on pre season and would be difficult to take on a new position right now.
At this point, if he really passed up on the Oranje job, I guess it’s best he just waits out on the sidelines to see what opens up. There’s always someone getting fired as club football is ruthless.
This is I think a fair report/profile on Slot by The Athletic
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7482332/2026/07/31/arne-slot-liverpool-next/
Sorry, there is a paywall. Not going to engage with that. Thanks for posting though.
De Jong and Seedorf seem to be playing the NT decsion pretty close to the vest, not much noise. The NL games are not that far away.