There are many news items to comment on these days, including the federal budget and the US-Iran war, but the article under consideration is about this mega event that can truly be called the real World Cup. You are right, this mega event is the Football World Cup, which began yesterday in Mexico with a magnificent opening ceremony and the host country’s 2-0 victory over South Africa, while South Korea has also won the second match of the first day against the Czech Republic 2-1. By the time this column reaches your hands, two or three more matches may have been decided._x000D_
Many people may feel bad about calling the FIFA World Cup the real World Cup. Especially those people who have become so ingrained in their veins over the past few years that they have no interest in any other sport, nor do they know that any other sport is played in the world except cricket. There are cricket analysts who write under their own name as sports analysts, but for them, the only news from the world of sports is that which is related to cricket, even if it is a sneeze by a small cricketer. However, a mega event of any other sport also has no meaning in their eyes. They neither know the name of a player in any other sport except cricket nor do they understand the rules of this game. These people even call kicking in football a shot. Cricket has such an influence on our nerves that a cricketer who claims to have won the World Cup has even been made the Prime Minister of the country, although in hockey, squash and many other sports we have even bigger celebrities including Jahangir Khan, Jan Sher Khan, Akhtar Rasool and Shahbaz Senior, and now, fortunately, the Olympic champion and record-breaking player in javelin throw, Arshad Nadeem, has also joined this bouquet of national heroes._x000D_
Whether one believes it or not and whether one hates it or not, the fact is that the real World Cup is the FIFA World Cup. This does not mean that the other World Cups are fake, but rather the real thing means that the whole world participates in this event in the true sense. Football is played all over the world and is watched by everyone. This game is equally popular in all countries of all continents of the world. Each continent has its own powerful organization that organizes a Continental Cup after a certain period of time, like the World Cup, in which all the teams that qualify from that continent participate. The number of teams that participate in a continental cup in football is not as many teams that participate in the entire World Cup of many other sports, including cricket. Currently, there are six regional football organizations in the world that represent the six major regions of the planet. The current champion of the European continent is Spain, while the champion of Africa is Morocco. The Argentine team is the joint champion of South and North America, while the joint champion of Asia and Oceania is Qatar. Of course, there will be such a division of regions in the cricket organization, but apart from the Asian champion India, has anyone ever heard of the name of a champion from any other region and does any country from the South American continent play cricket?_x000D_
In view of the extreme popularity of the game of football, the number of teams participating in the FIFA World Cup has been increased from 32 to 48 for the first time this time, including teams from all regions of the world including the continent of Asia, Europe, Africa, South America, North America and Australia, while three major countries like Canada, the United States and Mexico are hosting this event. A total of 104 matches will be played in the event and this event will last for about a month and a half. On some days, there will be five matches and in each match, the stadiums will be full of spectators, or rather, if it is said that they will be overflowing, it will not be wrong. On the other hand, except for the most important matches of cricket, the stadiums are generally empty in normal matches. On the one hand, football-playing countries have huge club tournaments, including the UEFA Champions League, Europa League, and Club World Cup, while rich countries have their own big leagues that football fans around the world watch with enthusiasm all year round. The number of clubs in the English Premier League alone is close to a hundred. In comparison, leagues in cricket started only a few years ago with India’s IPL, after which the PSL also came into existence in Pakistan. No more than a dozen teams are seen playing in any of these leagues._x000D_
The interesting thing is that despite being so popular, the game of football is extremely simple. In other words, it can be said that this game is so popular because of its simplicity. It is a very straightforward game, a match of which ends in a limited time of one and a half hours. The standard area of ​​​​its field is fixed. There is no difference between large and small grounds. The rules and regulations are limited. There are no different ways to get out like clean bowled, caught, stumped or LBW, no race to score centuries and hit sixes and fours. There are no different formats like Test, ODI, T20 and double wicket. There is no red ball and white ball. There is no risk of the match being cancelled due to bad weather. Whether it is raining, snowing, lightning, strong wind or scorching sun, the match has to be played. There is no desire to win the toss and no fear of losing. A game should be as simple as football, a game that involves long calculations like cricket is no longer a game, it becomes a business. Let’s avoid business for the next month and a half and enjoy the real World Cup.
