UNITED KINGDOM PERSPECTIVE

London covers the World Cup with the nostalgia of a country that just saw Cole Palmer absent from the English selection and that watches the situation with the usual passion of the British press. The Daily Mail headlines on fans still waiting for FIFA to reimburse them for tickets resold under the resale scheme — a customer-service angle that reveals the organization's amateurism. Sky News headlines bluntly "FIFA 'regrets' free World Cup tickets and demands fans pay up" — a formulation that captures the bureaucratic absurdity: FIFA admits having given out free tickets then demands retroactive payment. British coverage navigates between nostalgia (Cole Palmer in the Nike ad without being selected) and indignation (facing the organizational dysfunctions). The Daily Mail also covers with attention the stories of individual supporters — money lost, trips canceled, disappointments. This is typical of the British popular press, which personifies the consequences of institutional carelessness. British coverage is less ideological than the French or German one, but more emotional. The dominant angle is that of the ordinary fan paying the high price for the opaque decisions of an international organization. The subtext is also British through and through: the press treats FIFA with the same contempt it usually reserves for Brussels — another international institution considered disconnected from ordinary citizens. The Brexit-compatible reflex is obvious.