{"id":71576,"date":"2026-04-13T11:58:01","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T16:58:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/13\/why-the-world-cup-should-be-decentralized-leander-schaerlaeckens\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T11:58:01","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T16:58:01","slug":"why-the-world-cup-should-be-decentralized-leander-schaerlaeckens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/13\/why-the-world-cup-should-be-decentralized-leander-schaerlaeckens\/","title":{"rendered":"Why the World Cup should be decentralized | Leander Schaerlaeckens"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Expansion and political influence have made soccer\u2019s showpiece too big for one region to handle responsibly<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/football\/2026\/mar\/31\/sign-up-for-the-world-behind-the-cup-a-newsletter-about-more-than-soccer\"><strong>Sign up for the World Behind The Cup newsletter<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In retrospect, the 2018 World Cup in Russia looks like a gentle genuflection, a dainty little bow before its strongman leader. Vladimir Putin and his Russian project of gradual conquest were most definitely centered and validated eight years ago: the tournament showcased his nation and awarded its leader prominence of place.<\/p>\n<p>This summer, we will see something altogether different, as the runup to this edition of the world\u2019s biggest and most popular sporting event has become a monument to Donald Trump.<\/p>\n<p><em>This is an extract from Soccer with Jonathan Wilson, a weekly look from the Guardian US at the game in Europe and beyond, helmed this week by Leander in Jonathan\u2019s absence. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/football\/2023\/jul\/20\/sign-up-for-soccer-with-jonathan-wilson-his-free-weekly-newsletter-on-european-soccer\">Subscribe for free here.<\/a> Have a question for Jonathan? Email <a href=\"mailto:soccerwithjw@theguardian.com?utm_term=64e374e957bc66de2eba0d88db18746b&amp;amp;amp;amp;utm_campaign=SoccerwithJonathanWilson&amp;amp;amp;amp;utm_source=esp&amp;amp;amp;amp;utm_medium=Email&amp;amp;amp;amp;CMP=soccerwithjonathanwilson_email&amp;amp;amp;amp;utm_term=64ff1d6da46fdfa0ee94e9584bcde874&amp;amp;amp;amp;utm_campaign=SoccerwithJonathanWilson&amp;amp;amp;amp;utm_source=esp&amp;amp;amp;amp;utm_medium=Email&amp;amp;amp;amp;CMP=soccerwithjonathanwilson_email&amp;amp;amp;amp;utm_term=650857e42d6de1edacd87a4ce777e357&amp;amp;amp;amp;utm_campaign=SoccerwithJonathanWilson&amp;amp;amp;amp;utm_source=esp&amp;amp;amp;amp;utm_medium=Email&amp;amp;amp;amp;CMP=soccerwithjonathanwilson_email\">soccerwithjw@theguardian.com<\/a>, and he\u2019ll answer the best in a future edition.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Leander Schaerlaeckens is a Guardian US contributor whose book on the United States men\u2019s national soccer team, The Long Game, is out on 12 May. You can <a href=\"https:\/\/www.penguinrandomhouse.com\/books\/722130\/the-long-game-by-leander-schaerlaeckens\/\">preorder it here<\/a>. He teaches at Marist University. <\/em><\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/football\/2026\/apr\/13\/decentralize-the-world-cup\">Continue reading&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Expansion and political influence have made soccer\u2019s showpiece too big for one region to handle responsibly Sign up for the World Behind The Cup newsletter In retrospect, the 2018 World Cup in Russia looks like a gentle genuflection, a dainty little bow before its strongman leader. Vladimir Putin and his Russian project of gradual conquest &#8230; <a title=\"Why the World Cup should be decentralized | Leander Schaerlaeckens\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/13\/why-the-world-cup-should-be-decentralized-leander-schaerlaeckens\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Why the World Cup should be decentralized | Leander Schaerlaeckens\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71576","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71576"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71576\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}