But Guardiola isn't just a super-coach, he's also a political personality, and he doesn't usually keep his opinions private. The man, born in the town of Santpedor in Catalonia, has expressed his support multiple times in the past for granting independence to the region where he was born. These statements generated considerable anger toward him throughout Spain. Meanwhile, the Catalan struggle entered dormancy, prompting Guardiola to jump onto another political bandwagon, one less close to him, but from his perspective far more appealing and popular – support for Palestinians.

In recent days, he enlisted for the benefit of the exhibition match taking place today between the national teams of Catalonia and Palestine. The organizers hoped that recruiting a famous personality like Pep would help boost ticket sales, which would be played, rather ironically, at Montjuïc Stadium – "Mount of the Jews."

A few days ago, the Palestinian national team played against the Basque national team at San Mamés Stadium, and there was no need to promote sales there. The Basques' support for the Palestinian narrative is exceptionally strong, and all 55,000 tickets were snapped up. This isn't the situation in Barcelona, and the organizers are seeking creative ways to increase interest. The person who apparently recruited Pep to the matter is his daughter Maria, who is known as an enthusiastic supporter of the struggle against Israel. She participated in massive demonstrations in London, was seen wrapped in a keffiyeh, and shared posts accusing Israel of genocide.

There's no doubt that regarding everything connected to Catalan history, its struggle for independence and separation from Spain, Guardiola is knowledgeable and current. But regarding everything connected to what's happening in the Middle East, his knowledge is deficient at best – and borders on ignorance at worst. In an interview in Catalonia yesterday, he said, among other things, "We allowed Israel to destroy an entire people, the damage has already been done and it's irreversible," and added, "I cannot imagine anyone in the world who could justify the massacre in Gaza. Our children could have been born there and killed just because of that."

But forget about him not even being in the right direction, if he's already discussing destroying a people and about massacre, perhaps the camel Pep should look backward and see his own enormous hump. Guardiola has coached Manchester City for nearly a decade and earns about £20 million per year. The one paying him this money is essentially the UAE government, which purchased the club in 2008. The actual owner of City is the vice president of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

Last week, British journalist Barney Ronay wrote in The Guardian that Sheikh Mansour's name appears in a letter that Member of Parliament Jeremy Corbyn sent to British government ministers in which he repeats a conclusion determined by the UN and the US State Department – that the UAE government (and therefore the owner of City) is providing resources and support for ethnic massacres in Sudan, so brutal that their results can be seen in satellite images from space.

The UN spoke of mass rape, ethnic-based massacre, and the threat of widespread famine. According to satellite images, piles of bodies and enormous blood stains can be seen. There are reports of the execution of 500 people in a maternity hospital. According to reports, the UAE government supports the forces of General Mohamed Hamdan, who, according to testimonies, carried out a massacre and mass rape in the besieged city of Al-Fashir. Since the fighting began about four years ago, more than 12 million people have been displaced from their homes. This is now the world's largest humanitarian crisis.

The UAE denies that it's arming any side, but as Tariq Panja reported in The New York Times, the US intercepted phone calls between General Hamdan and leaders in the UAE, including Sheikh Mansour. Jeffrey Feltman, former US envoy to the Horn of Africa, said, "We always knew that behind the scenes in Sudan was Mansour."

Is there any chance that Pep Guardiola isn't aware of the story? Is there a possibility that he doesn't understand or know who his employers are? Has he said a word on the subject? The answer to all three questions is identical: no.

And so, on a humanitarian issue among the most severe in the world, one so close to him at home, Guardiola has nothing to say. However, regarding everything connected to Middle East affairs and Gaza, which he has no connection to, and where he displays embarrassing ignorance, he continues to talk. Someone apparently needs to remind Pep of his visit to Israel 14 years ago. How he enjoyed every moment, the love he received everywhere he went, and of course, to remind him of what he said then: "My family and I are very happy to be here."

Gary Lineker, another famous soccer personality, exposed his antisemitic face in recent years and paid a price for it. Unlike him, Pep Guardiola is not antisemitic – but in his recent statements, the distinguished manager of Manchester City has proven himself to be a hypocritical man.

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The close bond between Borussia Dortmund and the family of their late fan, Netta Epstein, who was tragically killed on Oct. 7, reached its peak on Saturday when his parents, Ayelet and Uri Felshintein, and two sisters were guests of honor at the Champions League final. While Real Madrid was the clear favorite in the final, in these times, it seems most Israelis will be rooting for the German underdogs as well.

"Dortmund's and all of German soccer's solidarity with Israel, especially after Oct. 7, is astonishing," says Ayelet, Netta's mother. "So it's only logical that most Israelis would support Dortmund." Netta was murdered in his home in Kfar Aza when Hamas terrorists broke into his apartment on the morning of Oct. 7. Not because of any goalkeeping instincts, but because he was a true hero – he leaped onto the grenade the terrorists had thrown into the small apartment, sacrificing his own life but saving his fiancée, who was hiding behind him.

Soccer meant practically everything to Netta. He was a die-hard fan of Beitar Jerusalem, Liverpool, and Borussia Dortmund. He was also an excellent goalkeeper who played for two years on Hapoel Beer Sheva's youth team before becoming the legendary keeper for Shu'alei Kfar Aza.

When Dortmund officials heard of Netta's tragic death, they quickly reached out to the family and invited them to attend the home match against Leipzig in December. "We thought we were going on a family vacation, but what happened there was completely unexpected. An immediate, strong human connection formed that only grew stronger," Ayelet recounts.

"We fulfilled his dream after his death"

The key figure is Daniel Lorscher, who until about a year ago was in charge of the club's international relations and the fight against racism and antisemitism. Starting in 2011, he initiated visits by young fans and youth players to the Auschwitz and Dachau concentration camps, and he frequently visits Israel. Thanks largely to him, the club donates 1.5 million euros annually to The World Holocaust Remembrance Center Yad Vashem. Recently, Lorscher teamed up with Dr. Andreas Kahrs to launch an initiative called "What Matters," aimed primarily at preserving the lessons of the Holocaust for the younger generation in Germany and assisting in the fight against racism and discrimination, mainly through soccer.

He was among the organizers of the visit to Israel on Holocaust Remembrance Day in April when representatives from eight German clubs visited Yad Vashem. He was also one of the initiators of the "Soccer and Memory" program that will operate during the UEFA Euro 2024 in Germany, connecting visitors to the Holocaust, including visits to commemoration sites. Interestingly, in his distant past, Daniel Lorscher was a leader of the "Yellow Wall" ultras of Borussia Dortmund and their spokesperson.

"Our first encounter happened on a Friday at the synagogue in Dortmund, even though Daniel isn't Jewish." Uri recounts. "The following day, Saturday, we went to the stadium where 81,000 fans cheered like we'd never experienced before. At one point, the announcer began speaking, and a moment of silence was declared. Suddenly, the entire stadium fell silent, and on the four giant video screens, the image of our Netta appeared."

"It was emotional beyond description," Ayelet says. "All of us, including Netta's sisters Rona and Alma, just burst into tears. Even Daniel and his wife were moved to tears with us. We all hugged – it was an incredibly powerful moment." Uri adds, "Netta's greatest dream was to play in a stadium like that with over 80,000 spectators. He didn't get to fulfill that dream, but here he was, with the whole crowd seeing him. We fulfilled his dream for him after his death."

Borussia Dortmund's visit to Kfar Aza

That was the moment when the profoundly deep bond between the Epstein family and the people of Borussia Dortmund was forged. "That evening, we invited Daniel to visit Kfar Aza. He said he was very apprehensive, because of the terrible sights, and wasn't sure he could handle it emotionally. He said he had to stay strong to continue doing what he does," Ayelet recounts. The club's next gesture was donating a set of uniforms to Shu'alei Kfar Aza and the children's team that Netta had coached in the Shaar HaNegev Regional Council.

Then, in March, Daniel Lorscher decided to visit Kfar Aza and see firsthand the place where Netta was murdered. "Coming to Kfar Aza is a difficult journey for three reasons," Ayelet explains. "First, there's the trauma we experienced during the day and a half we were there. here's the loss - it's not just Netta, but also Uri's mother, my brother-in-law, Uri's brother-in-law and nephew, and many other friends who were all murdered. The third is the disconnection from home.  We haven't been there since Oct. 8, so, walking around there is really not easy."

Daniel and three others from Borussia Dortmund came to Kfar Aza, witnessed the horror firsthand, and their bond with the family only grew stronger. Ayelet recounts, "He asked us to enter the apartment and reenact exactly how it happened. These are things that leave a lasting impression and create a deep connection."

Three weeks later, the secretary of state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany's largest state (18 million residents) and home to Dortmund, also reached out to the family, requesting to come and lay a wreath in Netta's apartment.

"He arrived with a huge wreath on a plane, and it was then that I realized how deeply Netta's story resonates with people in Germany. It's not just the personal connection that formed between us and Daniel," Uri said. Ayelet adds, "We were just at the President's Residence when Daniel called and said, "We made it to the final! Are you coming to London?" The answer was obvious. We went to the Wembley final as guests of Borussia Dortmund, with our two daughters and one of our nephews, who was Netta's best friend. The invitation itself is amazing and so moving. The match will be a bonus."

"After people die, you always wonder: what would they have felt? What would Netta have felt? What would he have said if he knew Dortmund invited us?" Uri ponders.

"It should be a happy place, where people come to laugh just like Netta would"

Following the events of Oct. 7, most residents of the evacuated Kfar Aza relocated to Kibbutz Shefayim in central Israel. They set up a pub there, with two jerseys hanging – Netta's goalkeeper jersey and that of the commander of the community security team, Tal Eilon. "Every time I go in there and see Netta's jersey – sometimes it hurts, but sometimes I smile," Uri admits. Apart from soccer, Netta was also an avid beer lover. "Netta's dream was to open a brewery," Uri says, "and we're planning to fulfill that dream for him by establishing a boutique brewery and 'beer garden' in Kfar Aza."

"Even though Netta was only 22, he managed to make a meaningful impact in many areas, such as his volunteer work assisting people with disabilities. This is also a direction in which we are looking for ways to commemorate him," Ayelet says. ". "The common thread in all these things is that they are a celebration of life. I don't want anyone who goes there [the brewery] to be depressed. It should be a happy place, where people come to enjoy themselves, laugh, and talk nonsense, just like Netta would."

"We were in the shelter for 30 hours until they rescued us," Uri shares. "I remember telling Alma, after we already knew that Netta, my mother, and my brother-in-law were no longer alive, that 'we lost so much today, but I promise I will continue living for those who are still alive.' I made her swear that if I forget, she should remind me of that sentence.

"After we barely managed to pull ourselves together, I told Ayelet, 'We have so much to live for, we need to be strong.' And indeed, we both decided to embrace life. When we went to Dortmund, Ayelet told me, 'It's true that the reason we're here is to mourn Netta, but we are here to celebrate and enjoy ourselves in his memory,'' with him being with us at every moment. This is essentially our way of commemorating his memory, with his zest for life, his smile always with us."

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Now that the final curtain has come down on the 2022 World Cup, at FIFA the countdown to the next tournament scheduled for summer 2026 is already underway. Five years ago, the decision was made that the 2026 World Cup would take place for the first time in three different countries – the US, Mexico and Canada – and for the first time 48 national teams would take part in it.

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FIFA President Gianni Infantino is the man responsible for increasing the size of the tournament by 50%, and the motives for this are crystal clear: increasing the revenues of the international football association and bolstering his own political status as head of the organization. More national teams mean more votes in the upcoming FIFA presidential elections.

But there is one issue that Infantino and his board of advisers have not addressed: how exactly is this monster-sized World Cup tournament going to work? Until very recently the idea was to divide up the 48 national teams into 16 groups with only three teams in each one. The top two teams in each group will then qualify and advance to the knockout stage. According to this method, there will be 80 games (instead of 64 under the current system), and the tournament, as it is now, will last for four weeks.

Apart from the fact that there will be 16 teams that will play only two matches before returning home, at first glance it doesn't appear to be such a bad solution. But the wise men of FIFA have not taken into account the fact that in a 3-team group, in each round there will always be one national team not playing a match, which will inevitably lead to a situation in which the two teams competing in the last group stage match will know precisely what outcome suits them in order to advance – and to send the third team home.

The infamous "Disgrace of Gijón" match held in Spain during the 1982 World Cup is still fresh in the memories of many football fans. West Germany and Austria colluded to secure a 1:0 win for the Germans, leading to the elimination of Algeria from the tournament, who had already finished their group stage matches at that point.

This incident led to a change being introduced in 1986, and the third and final group stage round would now be held with both matches taking place simultaneously to prevent similar acts of non-sporting behavior.

This welcome change has led to intensely dramatic scenes unfolding over the years, such as what happened now in Qatar in Group E, when the group table standings were repeatedly turned on their head before it was finally decided that Japan and Spain would proceed to the Final 16, while Germany and Costa Rica were eliminated.

104 games in five weeks                                                          

The most amazing fact is that FIFA has not commented on this issue, though a fair number of commentators have written about it. Former Arsenal manager and FIFA's Chief of Global Football Development, Arsene Wenger, referred to this only last weekend.

He did not rule out the original idea of the 16 three-team group format but added that an additional two alternatives are currently being examined. One idea is to have 12 four-team groups, with the first and second-place teams qualifying automatically for the knockout stage, while the eight best third-place finishers would also advance to the Final 16 stage.

The second idea is slightly more complicated: the 48 national teams competing in the World Cup will be divided into two separate tournaments. Each 24-team tournament will comprise six groups of four teams.

In each tournament, the six group winners will advance to the knockout stage along with the two best second-place teams. Following the quarterfinals and semifinals in each individual tournament, the last four teams (the two winners of the semifinal matches in each tournament) will then compete for the title based on the "Final Four" system.

In both of these proposed formats, the tournament would involve 104 soccer matches, lasting for five weeks, and this is where the genuine problem lies. The football clubs – who pay the players' wages – will clearly be adamantly opposed to this, and we should not forget the fans and the media too, for whom this would be an unprecedented, exorbitantly expensive and fatiguing event.

But that's not all: since the World Cup shifted from a format of 24 to 32 national teams, the need for internal rating of the best second-place teams in each group has been abandoned.

A shift to a 48-team competition would take us back to this most unhealthy state of affairs, as then the decision as to who advances would be based on goal difference, and there are always differences between the various groups in terms of the quality of the national teams. Once again, those teams playing last in the group stage schedule will know precisely what result they need to progress.

Wenger said that a decision on the competition format will be made only next year, but it is already clear that the move to a 48-team World Cup is extremely problematic, and will face considerable, severe criticism.

All the way to New York                                                                  

In the meantime, FIFA has already decided on the distribution of tickets for the next World Cup according to continents. Europe will send 16 teams (instead of 13); South America will send six teams, with the option of one more in a playoff (instead of 4+1); Africa will be represented by nine teams with the option of an additional one (instead of five); and Asia will be able to send eight teams with the option of an additional team too (instead of 4+1). The three host nations will of course qualify automatically.

An additional three national teams will qualify from North America and Central America with the option of two teams qualifying from the playoff, while Oceania will have one guaranteed place and an additional team to qualify from the playoff. Six teams will take part in the playoff tournament (from all the continents apart from Europe), and the top two sides will complete the puzzle of the 48 participating nations.

The final dates of the World Cup will be determined only after the format has been decided, in summer 2023. The host cities of the various matches and the division between the host countries have already been decided. There are to be 11 in the USA, three in Mexico and two in Canada.

The venue for the final has yet to be published, but it appears to be patently clear that this will take place at the MetLife Stadium in New York – the home of New York's two famous football teams, the New York Giants and the New York Jets.

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