Tunnel #46 — The World Cup is on sale
And a solution to stop sexualised camera shots in women's athletics
“Pure bribery”. According to the latest report from The Times, this how some representatives of the the 211 affiliated federations to FIFA has described the offer from president Gianni Infantino to back the plan to, basically, sell the World Cup for a guaranteed $40 million, supported by a total funding package worth $10 billion.
The issue isn’t that FIFA wants to open to private capital. It’s the message this move sends. The biggest tournament in world football risks being treated as a financial asset whose value is measured solely by economic returns, shareholders, and investment opportunities. If everything can be put up for sale, the World Cup ceases to be a shared sporting legacy and instead becomes a vehicle for the interests of those who control it, where financial gain inevitably takes precedence over sporting values.
The promise is greater financial support for member associations, but the real question remains: at what cost? When consensus is built around tens of millions of dollars, the line between assets and bribes becomes increasingly blurred. Football has always been a business, but there is a fundamental difference between maximising the commercial value of an event and selling off its future. The day the World Cup answers first to investors rather than fans, it will be difficult to keep calling it the world’s game.
By the way. Federations will have only until September 19 to accept Infantino’s proposal, with FIFA highlighting a substantial financial gap between approving the plan and rejecting it: without the agreement, projected revenues would fall to $2.7 billion, almost 75% less.
In terms of politics in football, it has not been a smooth week in Italy. Sixteen days after being hired by the federation, Paolo Maldini and Leonardo resigned because Andrea Pirlo’s appointment as the new head coach fell through, apparently because of his collaborations with a Russian betting company. Another chapter in a seemingly never-ending crisis. Here is the complete timeline of Italian football’s collapse.
In recent years, the line between performance and lifestyle has become increasingly blurred. Technologies developed to enhance athletes’ performance have become an integral part of fashion language, transforming sneakers into objects that combine technical innovation with contemporary aesthetics. It is within this context that HYPERBOOST EUPHORIA finds its place, the new silhouette from adidas Originals created to translate the DNA of running into a sneaker designed for everyday life. Find out more.
Benedetta Pilato is 21, lives in Rome, and loves tripe, gelato, and the Orange Garden. Talking to her, she comes across as just another young woman. Except Italy stopped seeing her that way in 2019, when, at just 14 years and 6 months old, she became the youngest Italian swimmer ever to compete at the World Championships. Since then, she has grown up in the public eye without ever losing the authenticity that defines her. We met with her on the eve of the European Swimming Championships for the latest issue of More Than.
Here we are with another round of new football kits. Liverpool’s new Away jersey has a 1980s aesthetic; the Kobe Bryant brand is back on the FC Barcelona Away jersey; adidas has brought back the bruised banana design for Arsenal; Rhuigi Villaseñor has designed Como’s new Home jersey; Macron is celebrating Sampdoria’s origins with two anniversary kits; Rains is entering football as B.93’s new main sponsor; and Nike has unveiled the first Home and Away jerseys for Monza. As if all that were not enough, AS Roma has announced Dsquared2 as their new official fashion partner and the French Football Federation unveiled a new crest.
The 2026 European Athletics Championships are set to take place from 10 to 16 August at the Alexander Stadium in Birmingham. This will be a pivotal event, as the European Broadcasting Union has introduced new guidelines aimed at preventing sexualised camera shots of female athletes. Read on for all the details.
This will be our last issue before we take a three-week holiday. Tunnel will be back on 28 August, but we will not be closing our Substack profile. We’ll be posting updates that you can share. Thank you for all your support over the past few months; it has been crucial in helping us to move forward. To not leave you empty-handed, here are the best looks from the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations. See you soon.