The world cup 2026 qualifying games set to begin in 2025 were drawn in full this past weekend which brought along controversy with it, from rival games to errors in maps it had it all.
A big talking point from the draw was Albania and Serbia been drawn into the same pot. In the ten years since they last played, tension has never been higher. For more than 25 years now Serbia and Albania conflict has sparked worldwide attention with the violence off the pitch spilling on to the pitch in their last meetings. This all stemmed from the Kosovo conflict in 1998/99 where Albanians fought against Serbians and the government of Yugoslavia in Kosovo. The games between the two countries have been nothing short of violent, as the animosity has stayed ever present. After their last meeting, both teams were handed a 100,000 euro fine. Along with this Albania was awarded a 3-0 win as it was seen as Serbia’s fault for not resuming play after a massive fight broke out between players and fans alike. Albania, however, was deducted three points and was forced to play their next two home games with no fans present. These two sides finally meet on the 7th of June and the 11th of October. Serbia is aiming to keep their qualifying record going as they have been at 3 of the past 4 world cups while Albania tries to qualify for their first world cup.
FIFA came under fire after the draw for presenting a politically wrong map of Ukraine. While showing the boarders of countries that can’t play against each other Ukraine’s shaded boarders excluded the territory of Crimea. Crimea is classed as an administrative division of Ukraine after previously being annexed by Russia in 2014. following the draw Ukraine association of football wrote to the FIFA secretory general to express their angry over the situation. Their Response was very simple, that they are aware of the problem with the segment and has been removed and taken down by them. Ukraine was potted into group D along with Iceland, Azerbaijan and the winner of the two legs between France and Croatia.
The lack of streams and eyes on this major event struck up debate on how difficult it is to find a platform to watch football related media is. It was streamed on the FIFA website, however that website’s stream constantly broke up and crashed, stopping passionate viewers from getting to watch the draw. Fans could also tune in through the English YouTube channel, however the stream either crashed or muted while the viewers were watching. FIFA have yet to comment on the lack of platforms for viewers to tune in to during the draw was taking place.
