The eyes of the world are, once again, glued to the World Cup. Overwhelmingly, they are on Lionel Messi’s goal-scoring record, a Cape Verdean goalkeeper who shot to fame or viral clips of fans.

It’s a familiar and understandable diversion of attention from the issues that dominated the buildup. Many Argentine fans were denied visas to attend the tournament and see Messi make history, Vozinha’s mother was only granted a visa bond waiver to the country after her son’s heroics for Cape Verde, and those fans seen on TV are often the lucky few rich enough to afford outrageous ticket prices.

Infantino, Trump relationship has eroded FIFA trust

Several factors have contributed to growing frustration with FIFA.

The decision to award US President Donald Trump FIFA’s inaugural Peace Prize last December, shortly before Trump started a war with tournament participant Iran, was reportedly a unilateral move by FIFA President Gianni Infantino and has further eroded trust both within and outside the organization.

FIFA employ a rotation policy for World Cup hosting — that means each confederation should host a tournament in turn, with the exception of Oceania, which lacks the facilities since Australia began playing in Asian competition. But with matches in the 2030 World Cup scheduled in Europe, Africa and South America, that cleared the way for Saudi Arabia to be awarded the 2034 tournament unchallenged and much earlier than Asia would otherwise have been due, in 2042.

With Infantino set to exceed the usual presidential term limit of 12 years, again likely unopposed, frustration with FIFA is at an all-time high, according to many observers. But can anything be done?

How does FIFA maintain its power?

FIFA is responsible for the game’s global development but also acts as its commercial operator, a system many governance experts have questioned.

The World Cup is its key financial driver, though the recently revamped and expanded Club World Cup is now another key contributor. That competition has led to widespread complaints from players and player unions about a congested calendar that makes unreasonable demands.

“I don’t think the players are listened to that much, if I’m totally honest,” said Bayern Munich and England striker Harry Kane last year.

Structurally, each of the 211 member nations (which sit in six continental federations), gets a single vote for the president every four years. These member associations are then financially rewarded, to a greater or lesser degree, through various schemes and programs.

“The commercial dimension is the bedrock of FIFA’s system of power. The money is used by the presidents to accumulate and consolidate their power,” Miguel Maduro, a former chairman of FIFA’s Governance, Audit and Compliance Committee, told DW. He was dismissed from the post in 2017 after attempting to enforce political neutrality rules regarding Russia.

“It’s what supports the system of patronage through which presidents reward those loyal to them and punish anyone that dares criticize anything. It explains why incumbent presidents are never challenged and stay in power indefinitely.”

Can politics and the EU force FIFA to change?

Like Maduro, Nick McGeehan, of human rights NGO FairSquare, agrees that any reform would have to be imposed upon FIFA. And with individual member nations not incentivized or able to drive change, he is calling on the European Union to take up the fight.

“It requires political intervention. There is no other way to fix FIFA,” he told DW.

“I think the most obvious example would be the European Union, who could regulate and govern sport the way they regulate other things like Big Tech.”

FairSquare have filed a complaint with the Investigatory Chamber to the FIFA Ethics Committee over Infantino’s dealings with Trump while, separately, fan group Football Supporters Europe (FSE) and advocacy group Euroconsumers filed a complaint about ticket prices to the European Commission shortly before the World Cup.

A commission spokesperson would not be drawn on whether the EU might take on FIFA, telling DW only that the FSE and Euroconsumers complaint was being dealt with “in line with our standard procedures.”

Asked whether they might intervene in the various questionable World Cup ticket practices, the spokesperson went on to confirm that EU laws “do not regulate the price levels for goods and services, such as event tickets.” But added that: “Traders must adequately inform consumers about the total price of their offers and avoid misleading commercial practices, such as making attractive starting price claims for tickets that are not available or pressure-selling techniques while consumers wait in the virtual queue.”

Though definitive political action is so far thin on the ground, McGeehan retains hope.

“There is going to be a politician somewhere who recognizes the political value of taking people on and actually trying to hold them accountable. And I find that quite an exciting prospect, because I think it’s inevitable right now.”

Might UEFA and FIFA tensions force a breakaway?

While it operates under FIFA’s umbrella, there are simmering tensions between FIFA and the powerful European federation, UEFA. They were laid bare in UEFA’s hiring of Somalian referee Omar Artan for the Super Cup final, days after he’d been refused entry to the US to officiate at the World Cup.

“Football is made to connect people,” said UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin.

Last year, UEFA delegates walked out of the FIFA Congress, accusing Infantino of prioritizing “private political interests” after turning up late from a diplomatic tour of the Middle East alongside Trump.

“There are tensions between UEFA and FIFA, and UEFA are a huge confederation and have the ear of some of the biggest and the most historic footballing nations. So if there was any form of breakaway within football it would have to come from UEFA or a number of UEFA nations getting together,” Geoff Walters, a professor in sports business at the University of Liverpool in the UK, told DW.

“But it’s hard in the context of football politics to put your head above that parapet because you get shot down. If you do say something, then what does it mean? Is it going to harm your chances of hosting competitions, which can be beneficial? Does it mean that you are ostracized from the international community?”

Germany serve as an example of this. After team members covered their mouths in a political gesture at their first match in Qatar in 2022, the team and federation have rowed back on their support of political causes, possibly with a hosting bid for World Cup 2034 or 2038 in mind.

UEFA themselves had to deal with the threat of an elite-club-driven breakaway Super League in 2021 and the legal issues that followed. Maduro said the organization “suffers from that same governance flaws as FIFA, albeit in a less obvious and radical manner.”

What’s in a FIFA breakaway for the rest of the world?

UEFA’s standing with the rest of the world’s federations may also have been weakened by Ceferin’s reported recent comments that the expanded World Cup makes a lot of matches “completely uninteresting.” A coalition of 13 football associations from Africa and Asia said they “firmly reject” the comments reported by Zurnal24 online newspaper in Ceferin’s native Slovenia.

The prestige and power of Europe and South America, particularly Brazil and Argentina, is also not as strong as it may seem compared to Infantino’s power base in Asia and Africa. Walters said this is another reason why a breakaway appears a distant possibility.

“If it was spearheaded by leading nations, what would happen to the smaller nations across the world? What would happen to their ability to develop football in their countries?

“That’s part of the challenge with global sport that we’re seeing, not just in the context of the World Cup, but in the context of a lot of sporting leagues, where you are seeing the bigger teams starting to look to push and break away. They want to maintain the largest slice of the pie, of the commercial income and revenues that are coming into that sport,” he said.

Is FIFA reaching areas others can’t?

While many others have questioned those commercial motivations, Infantino has insisted they are for the greater good.

“Every dollar we generate goes back into football,” he told reporters on the eve of the tournament on June 10. “If we were selling our TV rights to pay-TV, like everyone else, we would generate four times as much revenue. And we could give all the tickets away, but they would still end up on the black market.

“As FIFA president we have to strike a balance. We invest in countries where no one else does — South Sudan, Bhutan. No one else is doing this.”

For now, that much is true. In football terms, no one else has the remit or the money. And, given how deeply FIFA is entrenched within the sport, the chances of a breakaway seem slim.

Although discontent has rarely been higher, unless a federation, alliance of countries or prominent individual grasps the nettle, the chances of reform seem only marginally less slim than before.

Edited by: Chuck Penfold

Gervonta Davis has been named as the most desirable opponent for another American star, even if his ring return continues to hang in the balance.

The 31-year-old has not fought since March 2025, back when he retained his WBA world lightweight title with a controversial draw against Lamont Roach.

After that, ‘Tank’ was in negotiations for an immediate rematch with Roach before turning his attention towards a more lucrative exhibition match with Jake Paul.

This was supposed to take place last November, only for Davis to be removed from the event following accusations of domestic violence.

Having now been made WBA ‘champion in recess’, the American finally appears to be plotting a comeback fight, quite possibly against WBO world welterweight champion Devin Haney.

News emerged towards the end of last month that the respective teams of Davis and Haney are in talks, despite the latter having been ordered to face mandatory challenger Keyshawn Davis.

Following his title-winning triumph against Brian Norman Jr in November, ‘The Dream’ has seemingly passed the grace period for a voluntary defence and must now agree terms with Keyshawn by July 20, otherwise their contest will go to a purse bid hearing.

Regardless of his son’s mandatory obligation, though, manager Bill Haney has told Ring Magazine that ‘Tank’ remains at the top of their hit list.

“The biggest and the best fight I think, that everyone in culture, sports and entertainment would love [to see], would be ‘Tank’. He’s at the top of the list.”

Bill went on to claim that he has already spoken with Al Haymon, Davis’ promoter, about staging the possible Haney fight.

Australia are prepared to take a chance on Ellyse Perry if needed for Sunday’s ICC Women’s T20 World Cup final at Lord’s, with head coach Shelley Nitschke saying the all-rounder could play even if she is not fully fit.Perry retired hurt during Australia’s semi-final win over West Indies at The Oval after feeling what the team described as “minor quad awareness”. She walked off after facing seven balls, with Australia later saying the decision was taken as a precaution because they were in control of the match.Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Nitschke said Australia had not trained since the semi-final, so there was still no clear update on Perry’s condition. However, she admitted that a World Cup final changes how teams assess a player’s fitness.“Yeah, potentially,” Nitschke said when asked if Perry could play without being fully fit.“I think there’s still certain things that she wants to be able to do as well, [to] be able to still contribute to the team and hold her own, whether that’s in the field or running between the wickets. But there is that element of, this is a World Cup final, so what’s our tolerance there? So certainly a slightly different lens than perhaps some other times.”Nitschke said the team remains hopeful Perry will be available for the final.“Hopefully she’s come through okay and is available on Sunday,” Nitschke said.“We don’t really have a clear picture of what that looks like.“We’re confident, but just not completely 100 per cent sure of how that’s gone at the moment.”Perry has been Australia’s leading run-scorer in the tournament with 185 runs at an average of 46.25 and a strike rate of 135.03. She has scored half-centuries against Pakistan and India, including a 38-ball 56 against India that guided Australia to victory and ended Harmanpreet Kaur’s team’s campaign.She has also taken four wickets during the tournament.Australia will play their first global tournament final since 2023 when they take the field at Lord’s on Sunday. Perry, who missed the 2020 Women’s T20 World Cup final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground because of a hamstring injury, is now racing to be fit for another chance at a World Cup final.

Terence Crawford suspects Ryan Garcia could lose his WBC title later this year, depending on whether he faces a physically superior opponent.

The 27-year-old claimed his world welterweight title in February, dethroning Mario Barrios with a unanimous decision victory after scoring a first-round knockdown.

In doing so, Garcia returned to the win column after suffering a points defeat to Rolando Romero, which followed his no-contest against Devin Haney in April 2024.

Sandwiched between those two results was, of course, his year-long doping ban, but now it seems the American has rediscovered some measure of form.

Hoping to build on this momentum, Garcia is likely to defend his title against mandatory challenger Conor Benn, potentially in Las Vegas on September 12.

Like Garcia, Benn was previously embroiled in a doping scandal but has since been involved in two middleweight encounters with Chris Eubank Jr, losing their first contest before scoring a unanimous decision victory last November.

The 29-year-old then unanimously outpointed a faded Regis Prograis this past April, dominating their 10-rounder at a catchweight of 150lbs.

Given his apparent size advantage, Crawford has told Ariel Helwani that he could see Benn pulling off an upset victory over Garcia later this year.

“I think that’s a good fight. I think, of course, Ryan’s got the experience, but Conor’s got the size and the power.

“I think it’s gonna be an interesting fight … I’mma go with Conor. I think he’s gonna upset him. I’m gonna go out there and pick him.”

While Benn has been competing at higher weights in his last five outings, he does not appear significantly bigger than Garcia, who matches him for height and is perhaps even a bigger puncher.

Manny Pacquiao faced a who’s who of excellent fighters across several divisions, but never managed to cross paths with Terence Crawford despite both holding belts at 147lbs at the same time.

The eight-division world champion made his professional return last year, fighting then-WBC welterweight champion Mario Barrios to a draw. With a professional rematch against Floyd Mayweather put on hold indefinitely due to the American’s legal troubles, he is now looking for another major fight.

It will not come against Terence Crawford, who retired in December following his victory over Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez.

Speaking to Vibe, ‘PacMan’ was asked if there was any fight he wanted that never happened, and he named none other than ‘Bud’ Crawford, believing their shared promoter at the time, Bob Arum, ‘preserved’ the American.

“The Crawford fight. Because Bob Arum preserved him. I’m under Top Rank promotions, and he was under Top Rank promotions before, so I would’ve loved to fight him. But it never happened. Bob didn’t give it to me.”

When both men held belts at welterweight – Pacquiao after his record-breaking title win over Keith Thurman, Crawford on his run as WBO champion – the fight would have indeed been a stellar main event.

Pacquiao ended up being booked to face future Crawford rival Errol Spence Jr, but an eye injury for Spence saw Yordenis Ugas step in. Ugas beat the Filipino icon over 12 rounds before losing the belt to Spence, who would face Crawford for undisputed in 2023.

Ironically, Crawford has offered the exact same take on the fantasy match-up but with roles reversed, believing Arum wanted to keep Pacquiao away from him.

Democratic Republic of Congo head coach Sebastien Desabre received the devastating news of his father’s death just hours before his team’s World Cup Round of 32 clash against England.

Despite the personal tragedy, Desabre led his side to an agonisingly close defeat, nearly securing an upset victory.

The emotional revelation was made public at the conclusion of his post-match press conference, when the team’s media officer, Jerry Kalemo, said: “We announce that the coach has lost his father. Our sincere condolences.”

Desabre, who will turn 50 next month, responded with a quizzical expression before simply saying “thank you”, a reaction that initially led to erroneous reports suggesting it was his first time hearing the news.

However, an official later clarified to Reuters that Desabre had been informed prior to the match in Atlanta.

The Congolese team had taken an early lead through Brian Cipenga and maintained it for over an hour before Harry Kane scored twice, ultimately securing a 2-1 victory for England.

The official added that Desabre’s father had been unwell for some time, though no further details were provided.

DR Congo are now heading home after their best ever performance at a World Cup, having reached the knockout stages for the first time in their history.

Congo earned a 1-1 draw against highly-fancied Portugal in their opening group game before suffering a narrow 1-0 defeat by Colombia.

Heading into their final group fixture against Uzbekistan, DR Congo knew they needed a victory to book their spot in the knockout rounds.

They fell behind early on but produced a spirited comeback to claim an impressive 3-1 victory. Newcastle striker Yoane Wissa scored twice, either side of Fiston Mayele also finding the net.

This meant that they went through to the last-32 to face England, and they pushed Thomas Tuchel’s men all the way before ultimately coming up short.

England are now through to the Round of 16 where they will play co-hosts Mexico at the Azteca Stadium on Sunday night.

Mexico have won all four of their matches so far without conceding, while England are also unbeaten at this year’s World Cup.

There seems to be a pretty strong consensus in the Fantasy Football world that the Mike McDaniel hire was a home run for the Los Angeles Chargers. People are talking Super Bowl again, and Fantasy managers are fired up about drafting Omarion Hampton, Justin Herbert, and Ladd McConkey. I have even heard some hype about Keaton Mitchell. The one guy who doesn’t seem to be getting the McDaniel boost is Quentin Johnston. That makes Johnston one of my favorite buys in Dynasty as we enter training camp.

It may be surprising to hear, but Johnston actually led the Chargers in receiving yards per game (52.5) and receiving touchdowns (8) in 2025. In his last 17 regular season games he has 72 catches for 987 yards and eight touchdowns. Those numbers would have made him WR22 on a per game basis last year. If he stays healthy, and McDaniel makes Johnston even a little more efficient, Johnston could be a top 20 wide receiver in 2026. He’s still just 24 years old, yet in current Dynasty consensus rankings he ranks as WR54. I’m not sure you can find a cheaper Dynasty buy that combines Johnston’s youth and upside. 

I had Matthew Rupert from Couch Scouts on Fantasy Football Today Dynasty to discuss recent rankings risers like Brian Thomas Jr. and Christian Watson. Check it out:

Youth and upside may be about all Xavier Worthy has going for him. He only has 1,170 receiving yards in his first two NFL seasons combined. While his blazing speed still shows up on film, so does ho his poor ball tracking skills on deep passes. And Patrick Mahomes hasn’t exactly done Worthy any favors on those deep balls. Enter Eric Bienemy, who is returning to the Chiefs to replace Matt Nagy as offensive coordinator. While conventional wisdom says the coordinator in Kansas City doesn’t matter because it’s Andy Reid’s offense, it is also true that Mahomes’ best football has come with Bienemy on the sideline. 

The Chiefs have told anyone who would listen that their big plans for Worthy in 2025 were blown up when Worthy collided with Travis Kelce in Week 1. The speedy receiver was never 100% after that, and his production showed it. The Chiefs didn’t add anyone who should cut into Worthy’s role, and we may see a concentrated target tree with Rashee Rice, Travis Kelce, and Worthy accounting for a large share of Mahomes’ targets. Worthy is still just 23 years old, and it used to be commonplace to expect talented wideouts to break out in Year 3. The fact that he has fallen outside of the consensus top 40 wide receivers shows that Dynasty managers have mostly given up on that possibility.

While the addition of Kenneth Walker could make the Chiefs more run-heavy, we also expect a significant reduction in Mahomes’ rush attempts with him coming off of the torn ACL. It’s also likely that having a run game that defenses have to worry about opens things up downfield for Worthy. At his current cost, it’s worth making that bet and seeing if the speedster can finally get on the same page with his quarterback.

Here are my updated Dynasty Wide Receiver Rankings:

Thursday’s Major League Baseball schedule features nine games, including a National League West battle between the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers. Play begins at 12:35 p.m. ET, with the final first pitch set for 10:10 p.m. ET. Among the top options in the MLB DFS player pool include Nathan Eovaldi, Shohei Ohtani, Cal Raleigh, Julio Rodriguez, Bobby Witt Jr., Matt Olson, Junior Caminero and Freddie Freeman. With only so much MLB DFS salary cap space, you’ll have to be judicious on who you select to compose your daily Fantasy baseball lineups.

Before making any MLB DFS picks be sure to check out the MLB DFS advice, player rankings, stacks, and top daily Fantasy baseball picks from SportsLine’s Mike McClure.

Visit our DraftKings promo code review to see their latest offers and get started.

McClure is a DFS professional with more than $2 million in career winnings. He’s also a predictive data engineer at SportsLine who uses a powerful prediction model that simulates every minute of every game 10,000 times, taking factors like matchups, statistical trends and injuries into account. This allows him to find the best MLB DFS values on sites like DraftKings and FanDuel and create optimal lineups that he shares only over at SportsLine. They’re a must-see for any MLB DFS player.

McClure has turned his attention to MLB action on Thursday and locked in his top daily Fantasy baseball picks. You can only see them by heading to SportsLine.

Top MLB DFS picks for Thursday, July 2

For Thursday, one of McClure’s top MLB DFS picks is Kansas City outfielder Starling Marte ($2,900 DraftKings, $2,200 FanDuel). Marte has been on a roll. He has three hits over his past two games. In 39 games this season, he is hitting .268 with four doubles, one homer and seven RBI. See McClure’s other MLB DFS picks right here.

McClure is also stacking Marte with outfielder Lane Thomas ($3,100 DraftKings, $2,600 FanDuel). Thomas has fared better on his home field this season. In 31 games played in Kansas City, he has registered six doubles and two home runs. He has a .357 slugging percentage and .677 OPS. See McClure’s other MLB DFS picks right here.

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How to set your MLB DFS lineups for Thursday, July 2

McClure is also targeting a player who could go off for massive numbers on Thursday because of an optimal matchup. This pick could be the difference between winning your tournaments and cash games or going home with nothing. You can only see who it is here.

Who is DFS pro Mike McClure putting in his optimal MLB DFS lineups for Thursday? Visit SportsLine now to see optimal MLB DFS picks, rankings, advice, and stacks, all from a professional DFS player who has over $2 million in career winnings, and find out.