FIFA’s White Elephants

Manero delves into the bowels of FIFA’s World Cup stadia white elephants, stadiums left in decay and abandoned, the ashes of the World Cup debacles from Qatar to Russia to Brazil to South Africa. It’s all around the world, no tears, no punishment, if a criminal law was set in place then the FIFA delegates would be shackled to the chambers, my lord.

Of recent times, the 2020 Qatar World Cup left a desert drenching trail of white elephants, time to make that trump call, is anyone listening? Plenty of Donalds on this watch who don’t give a shit. The first Qatari hit zone stadium is the Al Khor stad, which hosted nine World Cup matches, including three England encounters, plus five Asian FIFA club matches which is now a derelict monument. The Al Core sports played out to hundreds of supporters echoing into the stad’s 45,000 capacity. This is the FIFA appetiser for more of the same, eight stadiums built to house Nellie the Elephant who packed her trunk to say hello to the circus, off she road with a trumpety trump, trump-trump-trump.

A staggering 2.2 billion pounds was spent hosting the Qatar World Cup, with the stadium build migrant workers outnumbering the country’s 330,000 population 9 to 1. The cost of the migrant’s human life cast aside in the sweltering heat, poor working conditions, pay slips and dire accommodation, all laid on courtesy of the twinned FIFA Qatari rogue set, David Beckham arrived in town to rubber stamp the deal. A raft of promises was laid bare on the futuristic look post the WC but the only WC’s evident were the stad’s pull the chain into the shit house they go. A proposed shopping and community hub was fake promised with most of the stadiums being packed up and sent off to developing countries to improve their infrastructure and environmentally friendly tone was also set, the soulless brand led to a pit of nothing. Cash rich benefits were afforded to the FIFA president and delegates with Beckham onboard to bulge the wallet. If Tom Cruise was in town a slice of the money honey, no silence on this watch post World Cup, Manero will expose the shisters in arms, the fake bull shitters on various media outlets have fallen quiet. Pay days they grasped and into the sunset they rode without a second glance, that’s the aftermath, it’s a no lorded mystery, this media outlet will always prevail on the right side, to dismantle the fakers, the role players, fake sincerity is their sin.

The 2018 World Cup held in Russia led to the same debacles with eight of the twelve stadia built to date not hosting, decayed and abandoned. Vladimir Putin awarded the Russian state medal to the FIFA president Infantino link to article 2^nd Dec 2021 ‘FIFA’s Loon Toons’, was the medal for the sorry state dilapidation as anticipated, zoned into another state are the honchos. The national stadium of Russia, the Luzhniki Stadium, which hosted the 2018 World Cup Final is the home to FC Torpedo Moscow, who play out in front of a three thousand fan base whistling into the stadium’s 78,000 capacity, the echo bowl. The Volgograd stadium on the block cost a block busting 220 million pound build and today houses FC Rotor Volgograd, who are languishing in the Russian second tier with paltry crowds seated as pin heads inside the stad’s 45,000 capacity shell. It all engenders a feeling of emptiness, the soulless brand it has become. The third ranked Mordovia Arena Stadium has not hosted a football match in eighteen months with the stad’s club FC Mordovia Saransk becoming termed as a failed dissolution disbanded the club became, the 250 million build decaying and submersing into the surrounding wasteland, the white elephants shadow lines betray.

The most football obsessed nation on planet Earth Brazil, England can contest that mantle fell into the ‘white elephant’ trap with the world famous Maracanã Stadium, which was pivotal in the 2014 World Cup is football’s biggest white elephant, the host stad to the Argentina Germany final. The Maracanã known as ‘The Green Bird’ opened in 1950 with the world’s largest capacity at 200,000 which later became phased down to a 72,000 capacity, the car park is now home to a bus depot with minor functions being held, its abandonment in a piss pool of rust is one of football’s major travesties, the country’s 200 million plus population has been betrayed, that’s FIFA’s legacy to the 2014 World Cup, the green bird sits on top coated in tears.

Time to do some jungle hopping into the Amazon Rain Forest, at the Arena De Amazonia stadium in Manaus, where England played out v Italy the 2014 Brazil World Cup. The stad build cost being 220 million pounds housing 44,000 spectators but not anymore with the stadium falling in line with FIFA’s shitty, phoney ideals post World Cups. The stad has fallen into disrepair with the decaying roof being removed with the seats colour match fading under the scorching sun rays. In the Brazilian Fourth Tier, the Manaus Futebol Clube remained the occupants playing out in front of paltry crowds in a stadium which is unfit not stable and operated under a nondescript safety certificate, a pathetic state of affairs. Another major stadium of note, the arena Cantona (no, not Eric) at a cost of 293,000 million pounds is currently shuttered up and under repair, to open its gates again? Most probably not, link to article Sept 1^st 2021 ‘Flash Brazil 2014’, Roy Hodgson’s England in a satire take with Roy visiting the occupants of the Manaus jungle, light hearted relief after the FIFA debacle. An array of stadiums across the FIFA landscape of note under the white elephant brigade from Mexico to Japan, Korea to South Africa and beyond, FIFA’s trail of betrayal to the footballing world alongside the rogue states, badged up corruption with FIFA generating billions of stash, if the sirens were in town they would be arrested, exposed under the Manero lens. The largest stadium in world football is housed in North Korea, the Rungrado 1st of May Stadium, Pyongyang North Korea with a 150,000 capacity, perhaps now used for missile launches, one to land on FIFA’s doorstep, just a thought.

The Manero videos on YouTube access via phone