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In the contemporary world, football has ceased to be merely a sport played on fields and watched for leisure. It has evolved into a global spectacle that commands the attention of billions, shaping identities, monopolizing emotions, and functioning, in many respects, as a quasi‑religion. Stadiums are revered as temples, players are idolized as saints, and matches are celebrated as liturgies.
Yet beneath this seemingly innocuous passion lies a darker reality: football today operates as the modern opium of the masses, an extension of Rome's bread and circuses and Pharaoh's magic, deployed by political and economic elites to intoxicate populations, redirect attention, and conceal crimes, or at least institutional shortcomings. The game, in its globalized form, has become a smokescreen, a decoy, and a triumph of illusion, ensuring that while the ball rolls and the crowd cheers, injustice persists unnoticed. The altar of fun was never innocent, never pure; it was always stained with blood, for every spectacle requires sacrifice, every illusion demands victims.
Today's stadiums echo those ancient arenas. The chants are modern, the jerseys colorful, but the principle remains unchanged: keep the masses busy, entertained, and distracted, while the corridors of power operate unchecked. The continuity between Rome's circuses and modern football is not accidental, but structural. Both function as mechanisms of social pacification, ensuring that populations remain enthralled while rulers pursue agendas unchallenged. The Roman elite understood that a satiated and entertained populace was less likely to revolt; modern elites have inherited this lesson and perfected it through the machinery of globalized sport.
The Qur'anic narrative of Pharaoh provides another instructive parallel. Pharaoh's magicians cast spells of perception, deceiving the eyes of the people, making ropes appear as serpents. The tactic was simple: control the imagination, and one controls the crowd. Modern leaders employ football in the same way. The game becomes a spell, a magic trick. While wars rage, genocides unfold, and corruption deepens, the masses are seized by fascination with goals, trophies, and rivalries.
Pharaoh's magic has been reborn in the spectacle of sport. The manipulation of perception is no longer confined to ancient trickeries but is institutionalized in the machinery of global entertainment. Television broadcasts, sponsorships, advertising, and media saturation ensure that football dominates public consciousness. The illusion is total: the ball becomes the serpent, the stadium the enchanted stage, and the crowd the mesmerized audience.
That is why ever greater sums of money are poured into the game - grandiose amounts that defy economic logic - and why ever more powerful actors from across the political and economic spectrum are drawn into its orbit. Each goes for a share of the cake which they themselves have baked, purchasing clubs as though they were ordinary commodities, vying for ownership and influence, and inhabiting a universe of their own creation.
Players, and especially the celebrated superstars, are remunerated with sums that are proportionally exorbitant, for without their presence the charade itself would be impaired. They are placed upon pedestals, enjoying a status that borders on the otherworldly, a deification manufactured by media and markets alike. Only the Almighty knows how many of the problems faced by humanity in its entirety could be addressed, and perhaps even solved, by the redirection of even a fraction of the money currently absorbed by this industry. Yet who truly cares about humanity and the prospect of alleviating its burdens?
Meanwhile, outside the stadiums, tragedies unfold: the genocide in Gaza continues, with tens of thousands of innocents killed; aggression against Lebanon escalates; the war of attrition in Ukraine grinds on; Iran faces unjustified pressures and attacks; the United States' illegitimate imperialist involvement in global conflicts persists. Hundreds of lives are lost daily, still the world looks away. The ball rolls, the crowd cheers, and crimes are concealed. The juxtaposition is stark: while millions celebrate goals, millions mourn losses. The spectacle silences empathy, enforcing indifference.
The U.S.-Zionist-Israel axis of evil threatens to ignite a world war whose consequences would be nothing short of apocalyptic. What is at stake is not purely territory or resources, but the very survival of civilizations. And what a paradox! The United States, one of the hosting countries of the current FIFA World Cup, flaunts its malignant government on the global stage, optimizing the limelight while exposing its true malicious colors on a daily basis.
To make matters worse, President Donald Trump was awarded the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize - Football Unites the World in December 2025, presented by FIFA President Gianni Infantino. The award "recognized" Trump's fictional and one‑sided efforts in promoting an axis‑centric vision of peace and unity.
If this reveals anything, it is that both the U.S. institutional presence and FIFA are corrupt bodies, willing to stop at nothing to achieve their diabolical goals. It also demonstrates how far FIFA and similar organizations have departed from sport into geopolitics - no longer serving people and their game, but serving hidden agendas. Undoubtedly, instead of receiving hypocritical prizes designed to appease the beast, President Trump should be standing trial for crimes against humanity, together with his many partners and allies, especially inside the U.S. and Israel.
Pep Guardiola, former manager of Manchester City and one of football's greatest tacticians, was also widely criticized for bluntly and publicly disapproving of the butchery in Gaza. He was targeted by the Jewish Representative Council of Greater Manchester & Region, by pro‑Israel commentators and journalists, and even by certain fans. He was told to "focus on football," to stay away from politics, and - simply - to keep entertaining in silence.
In the meantime, FIFA never once mentioned, let alone condemned, the killing of 567 Palestinian footballers in Gaza since the beginning of the bloodbath in October 2023, as reported by the Palestinian Football Association. Instead, in June 2026 FIFA proposed to stage a symbolic match between Israel and Palestine as the opening fixture of its new Under‑15 youth tournament in the United States, scheduled for September 2026. Announced after the unveiling of the tournament in December 2025, President Gianni Infantino pushed the idea as a gesture of "peace and unity."
However, to do this while genocidal carnage continues un-condemned in the biggest and most influential corridors of power - where FIFA belongs and could have a say - is nothing short of a devilish propensity. These people are ready to sink to such low levels, camouflaging painful reality beneath thick layers of football as a means of amnesia. Their version of peace and unity is nothing but the tacit perpetuation of aggression and devastation. It is like a rapist reciting poetry in the ear of his victim: no matter the words, he can never be a poet; he is and will remain forever a rapist.
Even Iran, which qualified for the World Cup and is itself illegitimately targeted by blanket bombings and wholesale destruction by the US‑Israel coalition of malice, saw its team treated in the United States like a band of criminals. In truth, they should have been treated by the rest of the normal world as heroes - representing a country that resisted globalized monstrosities and perhaps even saved the world. As far as their enemies are concerned, a spade should always be called a spade, even if that means boycotting the World Cup by those who wish to truly express themselves.
God forbid if Israel were to qualify for the World Cup. Its presence would be celebrated enormously by the host United States, its main partner. As usual, it would be paraded endlessly as victim and bulwark of normalcy and civilization against barbarism. The insinuation will be clear: whatever the hardship and obstacles, true quality and real heroism break through, shining forth as the example to follow.
Even the smallest countries in the world never end the search for ways to join the wagon. Shortcuts are often employed - buying players, granting citizenship - anything to secure a place in the charade. What flows into the football industry dwarfs what is invested in far more beneficial sectors of social and human development. Few people know their true national heroes; however, everyone knows and seeks to emulate those who are best at kicking a ball, locally and internationally.
Every child, everywhere on the planet, dreams, wishes, and strives to become a future football star. To sound cool, trendy, and up‑to‑date, conversations revolve around football matters. The game has become the universal language of aspiration, eclipsing other pursuits of knowledge and creativity. Amidst it all, scientists remain unknown, thinkers uncelebrated, and religious leaders and scholars undervalued as well as shunned. The hierarchy of admiration has been inverted: those who illuminate minds are forgotten, while players of the game are revered.
To stage football events and bring spectacles home is seen as a national accomplishment, a badge of prestige. Resources are no obstacle, nor are the potential downsides considered. Governments know that hosting the subterfuge of football affords endless opportunities to lull the masses into sleep, to sell their agendas, and to manipulate perceptions of both government and country. The bigger the event, the bigger the masquerade, the greater the opportunities. So much so that hosting tournaments such as the Euros, the World Cup, or the Champions League final is regarded as securing a sociopolitical holy grail.
More broadly, one may ask how much sincere effort remains for acquiring a deeper understanding of Islam as a comprehensive way of life and for internalizing and living by its teachings. These are not peripheral concerns, but fundamental questions that strike at the heart of Muslim identity and purpose. Perhaps the time has come to reassess our priorities before it is too late. The time may also have come to revisit our relationship with football as an ideology and a spell of enchantment. The human heart cannot sincerely worship two deities, devote itself to two ultimate causes, or willingly submit to two masters. Exclusive devotion admits no rivals.
Only Allah knows how many Muslims miss their prayers altogether or fail to perform them on time because of football matches; how many experience a decline in the quality of their worship because their minds and emotions remain consumed by anticipation before a match or by elation and disappointment long after it has ended; and how many carry within themselves emotional scars or euphoric memories born of football's defeats and triumphs throughout their lives, leaving diminished space in their hearts and minds for the authentic spiritual experiences, profound reflections, and higher aspirations that ought to accompany a life devoted to the Creator.
We must remember that football is not omnipresent because it serves our existential mission, nor is it so aggressively promoted and consumed because someone loves us and wishes us well. On the contrary, its pervasive presence is due, in large measure, to the fact that much of it is neither beneficial for our worldly lives nor for our ultimate success in the Hereafter. Its relentless promotion reflects the interests of hidden forces that thrive on diversion, feed on oblivion, and bind hearts in emotional captivity.
Yes, football is, in itself, an innocent pastime. Like every lawful form of recreation, it has its legitimate place in human life. However, when pursued without restraint, even the most innocent activity can become harmful. Excess has a way of transforming what is beneficial into what is detrimental, what is wholesome into what is destructive. Football is no exception. If even excessive worship is discouraged in Islam because it upsets the balance that Allah has established in human life, what, then, can be said of excessive entertainment?
Following, or rather living, football today resembles the act of drinking salt water: it is harmful, still one can never have enough. The more one drinks, the more one desires, and in the process the more one injures oneself. The thirst is never quenched, the craving never satisfied, in that the very substance that promises refreshment only intensifies the need and corrodes the body.
Stadiums today function as modern colosseums, vast arenas where the masses gather not to be enlightened, nor to question the structures of power that govern their lives, but rather to be made to forget simultaneously what lies within themselves and what lies without. The architecture of spectacle thus becomes the architecture of amnesia, a carefully orchestrated environment in which distraction is sanctified and the pursuit of truth is displaced by the pursuit of pleasure. It is hedonism at its finest.
Associated distractions amplify the narcotic effect: alcohol flows, numbing the senses; gambling thrives, draining resources; immorality spreads, ensuring indulgence. Together, these diversions devour not only people's time, money, and energy, but as well their very being itself. It is therefore no surprise that the world's most famous alcohol brands and gambling companies stand as principal sponsors of both clubs and global sporting events. Conscious voices do rise in protest, but the complexity of the challenge they face ensures that their cries are scarcely heard, sheer echoes fading into the distance.
For instance, in the English Premier League today - which is by far the most popular and most watched league in the world - 11 of the 20 clubs are sponsored by gambling companies, accounting for more than half the league. The Champions League, Europa League, and Conference League remain underwritten by gambling and alcohol brands in 2026. And indeed, the ongoing 2026 FIFA World Cup itself is sponsored by both industries: FIFA has signed major deals with betting companies such as Betano and ADI Predictstreet, while AB InBev - through Budweiser, Michelob Ultra, Modelo, and Stella Artois - continues as the official beer sponsor.
Each and every fan should know that he himself - his body, his mind, and his soul, and nothing else - is the true target. It is not merely the wallet that is sought, nor merely the hours of attention, but the very essence of being. Satan is not interested in money or material possessions; his aim is the ontological dimensions of the human being. It is only when the essence of body, mind, and soul is compromised that all doors are opened for embracing beings, things, or even ideas as deities. It is only then that a person is caged, reduced to subjugation before ego and carnal appetites, and compelled to bow before falsehood. Definitely, this is the same path that Pharaoh, Nimrud, and others of their ilk adopted in their self‑deification, transforming themselves into national religions and idols of power.
Such leaders of today act behind the curtain, free from scrutiny. The decoy function is deliberate. Political elites schedule announcements, wars, and policies around major tournaments, knowing that public attention will be elsewhere. Corporations exploit the distraction to push agendas, raise prices, and consolidate power. The caricature becomes a shield, protecting the cream of the crop from accountability.
It is all smiles on the outside, but inside lies a blueprint for exploitation and humiliation. "We are all in it together," they like to say; however, reality testifies otherwise. The façade of unity conceals a machinery of profit, where fans are reduced to consumers and their devotion is harvested. Behind the banners of sponsorship and the rhetoric of togetherness, the true design is one of dependency and control.
The show indeed must go on. The ball must roll, the crowd must cheer, and the crimes must remain obscured. The brutality of (un)civilization is masked by the beauty of sport. The violence of empire is concealed by the illusion of play. The continuity is chilling: Rome's arenas claimed lives for entertainment; modern wars claim lives for power, while football ensures silence, abstraction, and the distancing of wrongdoings. All of it conspires towards the normalization of crime and the trivialization of tragedy.
In some places, football is even called a religion - and rightly so. It has rituals, sacred spaces, mythologies, and priesthoods. It also has pilgrimage sites. Fans devote themselves with loyalty, sacrifice, and passion. Stadiums are temples, players are idols, and matches are rituals. But this religion is false. It is nothing more than Pharaoh's magic, Rome's circus, modern opium. The religious metaphor is not accidental. Football provides meaning, identity, and belonging. It offers myths of victory, narratives of rivalry, and sacraments of participation.
The consequences are devastating. While millions tune in daily to watch football, millions suffer in silence. Orphans in Gaza, refugees in Lebanon, victims in Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Libya, Sudan, Bosnia, Kosovo, Chechnya, India, Rohingya, etc., and casualties on both sides of the senseless Ukraine-Russia war - their cries are drowned by stadium ovations. To mention them, to sympathize with the oppressed, is often treated as a crime. It spoils the false feel‑good factor. It disrupts the narcotic effect. "It is okay, it is not us" becomes a soothing inner refrain whispered by the subconscious, which nonetheless is a balm that numbs responsibility while disguising complicity.
Silence, it follows, is enforced, and deceit prevails. The moral inversion is complete: compassion becomes subversive, empathy criminal, and truth dangerous. "The show must go on," they say. But tell that to the tens of thousands of orphans, the hundreds of thousands of victims - hungry, thirsty, homeless, futureless - across the axis of the oppressed, tyrannized, and genocided, from Libya through Gaza to Rohingya.
Tell that to the millions scarred by neocolonialism, Islamophobia, racism, ultranationalism, xenophobia, and bigotry - whose epicenters, not by accident, coincide with the sanctuaries of football. In the so‑called developing countries, the Global South, more live in fear of becoming the next victim than those who taste sustainable peace and prosperity.
Indeed, the only show that truly goes on globally is one of modern primitivism and chaos.
By the way, I myself have ceased to follow football beyond the level of ordinary events. It deserves no more than that. Yet even I felt the sting when Bosnia's participation in the current World Cup ended in the round of 32. Such is the lingering power of spectacle: even those who resist its ideology are not immune to its emotional residue.
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