00:00And now I'd like to do a pre-game analysis with Brussels' own Mr. Football, the EU Commissioner
00:05for Intergenerational Fairness, Youth, Culture and Sport, Glenn Mikalov. Welcome to the program.
00:11Good to see you on the set this morning. So I remember a conversation you and I were having
00:17about half a year ago in which you said that Spain would win the World Cup. Are you still
00:23standing by your prognosis? I said it half a year ago. I said it before the World Cup
00:29started and I'll stick to my guns on this one. I think the Spanish team has been a strong
00:34team. You know, people were writing them off after they drew in the first match against
00:39Cape Verde. But this is what happened in 2010 when they won it. They lost the opening fixture
00:45at the time to Switzerland. They struggled in the first match this time around with Cape
00:51Verde. But I still think they're the strongest team in this tournament.
00:55What about Argentina? Would you have preferred England as a finalist to have two European teams?
01:02I was rooting for England in this match. First of all, I've been watching the English Premier
01:07League as far as I can remember. I think the Englishmen had a pretty good run in this tournament.
01:14They were a strong and formidable team. I mean, amazing players. How good is Jude Bellingham
01:21and Harry Kane? Amazing. Elliot Anderson for me has like broke out on the global stage
01:27in this tournament. Spence. Jett Spence also had a couple of good games. Now, I was kind
01:35of expecting. I wanted the English to make it. Let's take a look back at this tournament
01:41already. Did football unite the world as FIFA always advertises? Look, away from
01:50all the controversy that surrounded this World Cup, I think it was a pure joy to watch the
01:57tournament. So there was a great atmosphere. The football was simply amazing. And I have
02:04this image which is still stuck in my mind and I can't help but reflect on it whenever I get
02:13asked this question of what happened during the Argentina-Egypt match. The image is from Gaza
02:19and children coming together, despite how hard the situation is, to watch the game. And this is the
02:27beautiful thing about football. For 90 minutes, you can forget about everything that's going on
02:32around you and just focus on it. You mentioned Egypt. I mean, we've seen strong performances from
02:47South American teams and African teams perform really well. The Ivory Coast team has been really
02:54good. Morocco has been really good. So I think football has grown in these continents and now we're
03:01seeing much more quality players coming up from these systems. But the fact remains that the
03:09best talent, the best football is still being played in Europe. And that's something which makes me very proud.
03:15Of course. I mean, if you look at the last eight teams, six of them were European teams and that
03:20tells you something.
03:20Right. And even, it's not only EU, it's also Switzerland and Europe. I'm saying Europe.
03:27Was it a smart idea to give the tournament to three host countries?
03:31I think people were concerned about this. At the end, I feel it worked out really well.
03:37So the changes made to the tournament, the fact that it's grown to 48 teams, people were skeptical
03:42about that. I think the format worked. Yeah.
03:45The changes to the rules, people were also skeptical about them. With the exception of the hydration
03:52breaks, which were quite controversial. Commercial breaks, yeah.
03:55You can call them whatever you like. But the changes, the other changes to the rules,
04:00made the game simply more exciting. So faster throw-ins, people wasting time are not allowed.
04:07You know, it made the game more interesting to watch.
04:10So we're going to have three hosts again in four years, Spain, Portugal, Morocco. And they're also
04:16considering having 60 countries participate. Do you support that? Instead of 48 right now?
04:25Look, with 48, I think it worked quite well. Taking it to 60, well, I'm not sure. I wouldn't be,
04:33I wouldn't write it off immediately. So I think an enlarged tournament made it more exciting,
04:40more fans, more opportunities to watch football. In a tournament like this, I can't get enough of
04:47this. So it's almost bittersweet that it's coming to an end. And I think people were having concerns,
04:53myself included. I was having concerns about safety, security, about the atmosphere, about the fans
05:00being half-empty, about the stadiums being half-empty. Ultimately, it turned out great. So
05:07congratulations to the hosts, to the organizers, because finally, it was a great tournament.
05:13Just a very quick one. What are the biggest challenges for global football going forward?
05:18Is it political interference? Is it money? Or is it nothing at all?
05:21Had you asked me this before the tournament, I would have said sustainability. Creating a sustainable
05:26system where it becomes a lot easier without excessive commercialization for football to continue to
05:37flourish. I think what happened with the interference during this World Cup was...
05:42We don't want to talk about this anymore. Thank you so much, Commissioner, for being on the show today.
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