List of 2018 FIFA World Cup controversies
Russia's involvement in the ongoing conflict in Ukraine also caused calls for the tournament to be moved, particularly following the annexation of Crimea and support of separatists in War in Donbas.
[3] Reinhard Rauball, President of the Deutsche Fußball Liga (DFL),[4] called on UEFA to secede from FIFA unless the corruption investigation was released in full.
[11] Following several reports of direct military involvement of Russian troops in Eastern Ukraine, European diplomats revealed on 29 August 2014 that British Prime Minister David Cameron was working for Russia to be stripped of its hosting of the World Cup, as part of an extended sanctions package.
[14] The German FA (DFB) did not comment on the issue, although its Dutch counterpart (KNVB), representing the country with the most victims in the disaster, declared that such discussion should wait until the investigation of the accident.
[14] Nick Clegg, the then–Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, also stated his belief that due to the crash Russia should be stripped of the World Cup.
[15] After it was announced that Russia would host the 2018 World Cup, Dr Rafał Pankowski, a head of UEFA FARE Monitoring Centre, accused the Russian Football Union of downplaying racist chants in stadiums.
[17] On 13 July 2014, when the next World Cup was handed to Russia, Russian President Vladimir Putin said: "President Blatter puts a lot of personal effort into addressing social issues, and we hope that the preparations for the World Cup in Russia will also contribute to tasks, such as fighting drugs, racism and other challenges we face today".
[6] Later that month, Vyacheslav Koloskov, a member of the Russian bid team and former Vice President of FIFA, said that too much is made of racism in Russia, and that monkey chanting is not racist.
[19] In response to discrimination against LGBT people in the country, a number of petitions circulated calling for FIFA to strip Russia of hosting rights.
Thousands signed these petitions, including United States senators Mark Kirk and Dan Coats and gay rights activists Greg Louganis, Stephen Fry and George Takei.
[20][21] On 14 June 2018 UK-based activist Peter Tatchell was detained in Moscow by local police while staging a protest against the treatment of LGBT individuals in Russia.
[22][23] Russia's interior ministry ordered police not to provide negative news to the media during the World Cup and instead report only of solved crime cases to project a more positive image of the country.
[24][25] UK news media had repeatedly warned English football fans travelling to Russia of potential hooligan violence, anti-British hostility and racist intimidation.
[33] The Daily Telegraph reported in June 2017 that the former Prime Minister David Cameron and Prince William, Duke of Cambridge "were at a meeting during which a vote-swapping deal between England and South Korea was discussed, according to an official report ... At one point officials discussed the possibility of arranging a meeting with the Queen for one FIFA representative whose vote could have helped England.
"[34][35] On 14 March 2018, following the poisoning of former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury in the United Kingdom, the British government announced that all official visits to the World Cup were suspended.
[37] On 21 March, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson accused the Russian government of planning to use its hosting of the World Cup for propaganda, comparing it to Nazi Germany's use of the 1936 Olympics in Berlin for such purposes.
Russia denied the accusations and denounced Johnson's statements as "unacceptable and totally irresponsible" and "poisoned with venom of hate, unprofessionalism and boorishness".
[40] "The new Cossacks are part of a broader movement of armed Russian nationalism," said Nikolay Mitrokhin, a senior research fellow at the University of Eastern Finland.
The Mexican Football Federation was earlier sanctioned 12 times including 10 fines for anti-gay slurs during its World Cup qualifying campaign.
"[45] In Switzerland's 2–1 win over Serbia, Swiss goalscorers Xherdan Shaqiri and Granit Xhaka both celebrated their goals with the double-headed eagle gesture with their hands.
Both Kosovar President Hashim Thaçi and Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama shared their support for the celebration on social media, while it was called "a disgrace" by several Serbian newspapers.
[citation needed] Aleksandar Holiga, editor of Croatian website Telesport, has largely downplayed the incident saying "I don't think Vida understood the full meaning and context of what he was saying.
"[57] BBC reported that "Ukrainians accused FIFA of siding with Russia and flooded the football body's Facebook page with declarations of "Glory to Ukraine".
[79] The dramatic increase in the number of penalties awarded at the 2018 World Cup has been attributed to VAR catching fouls which would otherwise have remained unpunished.
Of the 169 goals scored in the tournament, 22 were from the spot (with 29 being awarded in total), beating the previous record of 17 set in the 1998 FIFA World Cup.
[80] Jonathan Liew of The Independent compares the situation to the introduction of the Decision Review System in cricket and notes the changes it had on that sport, and suggests that it might lead to changes of a similar nature in football.
During a 2–2 draw between Spain and Morocco, a challenge from Gerard Piqué did not result in a red card for the Spanish defender, nor did the referee check VAR on multiple possible penalty calls.
Goalkeeper Munir Mohand Mohamedi said Morocco also felt that Cristiano Ronaldo's winning goal in the second fixture should not be allowed as Pepe appeared to foul a defender.
[86] On the opening day of the World Cup (14 June) the authorities of Russia announced the extremely unpopular pension reform presuming a substantial increase of the retirement age.
[87] Late in the tournament FIFA requested that television and photographic coverage of fans at matches should give less emphasis to attractive young women.
