FIFA, NFL, IOC: Governing Bodies Hurt Sports for Financial Gain

FIFA, the NFL, and the IOC are all hurting their respective sports.

It's all about the Benjamins, baby.

FIFA's list of ridiculousness is long, including allowing Folarin Balogun of the USMNT to play last Monday. The NFL hid concussion data from its players and is forcing them to play more games (17, soon to be 18) all while saying they've made the sport safer. And the IOC just banned trans women from competing in the Olympics, a heartless and stupid decision that oppresses a tiny minority of athletes.

These governing bodies are something fans have to endure, try to ignore, to laugh at their hypocrisy while enjoying their favorite sports.

FIFA is a Corrupt Joke of an Organization

On Saturday, there were two fantastic fútbol matches on FOX and Telemundo. Both of them are shrouded in controversy to some extent.

The first featured England vs. Norway. And for the initial 25 minutes of the match, England were clearly the better team. They dominated time of possession and established the run (of sorts).

But after the pausa de hidratación, Norway were energized and took over the match. A cross ended up in the back of the net off one of the posts.

Suddenly, the huge upset was in the works. Before the 2026 FIFA World Cup kicked off, Norway was ranked 31st in the world. England was, and still is, fourth-best.

And yes, England gained momentum near the end of the first half, but the reason they scored is the ball bounced off a cable that holds a camera above the field. The English gained possession off the wild bounce and scored mere seconds later.

That tied the game up 1-1, and England ended up winning 2-1 in extra time.

It's possible Norway would have won in regulation, considering that was England's only goal during the first 90 minutes.

The ref missing the ball hitting the cable was bad, sure.

But worse was FIFA immediately—during the match—say there was no evidence the ball hit the cable.

It was literally "don't believe your own eyes" stuff. Which was nuts.

England ultimately won and is onto the semifinals, but Norway can't help but feel they got robbed.

Argentina - Switzerland

In the night game, another officiating issue came up, although it was ultimately ruled correctly.

Argentina were expected to win somewhat easily, but the Swiss made it tough. After an early goal gave Argentina the 1-0 lead, Switzerland tied it up in the second half.

A few minutes later with it all knotted up at 1-1, Switzerland's Breel Embolo dribbled the ball and then bellyflopped on the turf.

After looking at the replay, it was clear Embolo just took a dive. He flopped. There was no foul, but Portuguese official João Pinheiro had already given Leandro Paredes of Argentina a yellow card, he needed to still give the yellow to someone.

That ended up being Embolo—honestly, rightly deserved—but Embolo already earned a yellow in the first half. So, he was booted from the game and cried on his way out.

Switzerland had to play with 10 men (vs. 11) the rest of the way, and still took Argentina to extra time before ultimately losing 3-1.

Again, ultimately the call was made correctly and given how much flopping there is in the World Cup, Embolo and the rest of the players should use it as a learning moment.

FIFA? No. FAFO.

But it still marred an otherwise great game. Many were complaining FIFA fixed the game in favor of "VARgentina".

More FIFA Issues in 2026 World Cup

There have been many other officiating issues and/or organizational issues concerning FIFA during this World Cup including:

• Egypt's goal being taken off the board using VAR (Video Assistance Referee) against Argentina that cost them the game. The Athletic rated it a 9/10 on their controversy rating system.
• Trump given the FIFA Peace Prize last November.
• Hydration breaks: It's incredibly hot, so the breaks make sense, but many fans hate them and believe it's a way to Americanize the World Cup, creating time for more ad breaks. Soccer is supposed to be 45 minutes nonstop (minus extra time) per half.
• Cristiano Renaldo allowed to play two World Cup games after being suspended.
• Folarin Balogun allowed to play vs. Belgium after red card vs. Bosnia. A red card kicks a player out for the rest of that current game and also the next game.

Folarin Balogun allowed to play after red card

The Balogun one is the controversy most American soccer fans will note.

And it stunk. It left a sour taste in everyone's mouth because Donald Trump said he called FIFA Gianni Infantino to lobby and let Balogun play. The right says to keep politics out of sports, but that's not realistic. They just mean keep your politics out of my sports.

Then, FIFA did allow Balogun to play, but Infantino released a statement saying he didn't choose whether or not the American—born of Nigerian parents—could play or not.

Now, NBC Sports reports the committee who decided whether or not Balogun could play was a single person. Which makes it easy to see a scenario where Infantino told Mohammad al-Kamali of the United Arab Emirates to let him play despite the red card suspension.

Balogun did play but the United States got their asses kicked by Belgium 4-1.

Still, the most casual fans were annoyed that he was allowed to play at all.

Hate the Organization, Not the Game

And the point here is to blame FIFA and to be upset with the corrupt organization.

In this World Cup it's become clear FIFA wants to protect its star players. That includes Ronaldo and Balogun skipping their suspensions. It also includes preferential treatment for Lionel Messi—and not stopping the Argentina - Egypt game when fans were being racist toward Egypt fans even when the Egypt coach called for stoppage—and Argentina as a team.

Obviously, all of that helps them with TV ratings and to ultimately make money.

FIFA has long been corrupt, though.

Rewind to 2022 and FIFA's selection of Qatar is shrouded in a ton of controversies. For one, that Qatar bribed FIFA to get to host. That Qatar is too hot a locale to host soccer matches, which is why the tournament was moved to December. The host country's terrible track record on human rights and the violations for migrant workers the LGBT community. And so on.

We're talking Qatar using slave labor to build stadiums. As depicted in this comic.

IOC

In the Olympics, the IOC recently banned trans athletes. It's a terrible development which targets an extreme minority of athletes. Some .001 percent of Olympic athletes have ever been trans women, with a known three such individuals competing ever, and one—a Canadian soccer player—won a medal. In a sport with a huge team.

Remember, no one cared about trans women playing sports until the right-wing manosphere told them it was an issue.

Of course, it's not an issue at all. It's a person wanting to compete in a sport. And these aren't even big-time sports like football, basketball, hockey etc. (outside of the one soccer player). We're talking weightlifting and other fringe sports at the Olympics.

Also, no matter their popularity, all sports are trivial. They're games.

But what overarching ability they have to unite—not divide—is what makes them special. Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier in the MLB. Jesse Owens kicking the Nazi's asses in Germany. The Black Power salute in 1968. Even George W. Bush throwing out the first pitch for the World Series after 9/11.

NFL

The NFL is like FIFA and the IOC as a ruling body which has its own long list of issues.

The aforementioned CTE problem is the biggest. The NFL hid their findings connecting concussions and CTE—a debilitating and often life-threatening condition where former players hurt or even kill themselves—for decades.

Since, the league has made small changes to the league rules in the name of player safety. One has been the new dynamic kickoff rule changes.

But those are seen as a minor win for the athletes when the league goes from 16 to 17 regular season games, and will soon go to 18. Or that they're forcing players to play overseas, which adds unneeded stress to their bodies.

Of course, increasing regular season games is for making more money.

The NFL also has a huge domestic abuse problem surrounding its players. That includes Jonathon Cooper of the Denver Broncos, who's gone from hero to zero.

What else?

Oh, seven current and former NFL owners were included in the Epstein Files, including Robert Kraft who used Epstein's lawyer and Steve Tisch, who used Epstein to scout women for him.

Plus, the league blackballed Collin Kaepernick. And after they started the slogans in the end zone in 2020, commissioner Roger Goodell ended "END RACISM" as a slogan the league is connected with.

Owners also hold cities for ransom in order to get them to pay for the construction of their stadiums, the NFL threatened to have scab referees in 2026 before getting the officials to agree to a new contract, and many NFL players have been credibly accused of sexual assault.

In those last-mentioned cases—as with the domestic abuse cases—it's fine to hate the player. You should, actually.

In other cases—like the Balogun and FIFA, or with the IOC's transgender ban—you should hate the governing bodies, not the player.

Sure, boycotting the World Cup because FIFA is a terrible organization is a fine solution, if that's what you want to do. The same can be said of the Olympics.

But these athletes don't deserve to be punished for what those in charge are doing.

Both Olympic and World Cup athletes train their entire lives, including insane buildups to qualifying, to compete once every for years. And possibly once in their entire lifetime.

Did it suck that the President of the United States asked the President of FIFA to allow the USMNT's Balogun to play after breaking the rules? Yes.

But hate FIFA, not Balogun. Not the USMNT.

When it comes to the NFL's issues, calling out their ridiculous nature and even booing Roger Goodell at the NFL Draft are ways of telling the league you don't stand for their terrible ethics.

Whatever little affect it has.

Unfortunately for the NFL, and those who care in their New York offices, the league is easy to lump in with FIFA's corruption, and the IOC's buffoonery.

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Rich Kurtzman was born and raised in Denver Colorado and attended Colorado State University in Fort Collins in the aughts. He's been a professional writer since 2011, covering Colorado State football and men's basketball, as well as the Denver Broncos, for many outlets. Current Denver Broncos work can be found on Mile High Sports. Previous credits include CBS Denver and The USA TODAY Sports Media Group.