I always say this, but I genuinely think there is NO way San Marino is ACTUALLY the worst team in the world. Their ranking is just affected by the fact that they’re surrounded by powerhouses that destroy them every game. San Marino would comfortably beat some national teams in the Caribbean, Africa and Oceania 100%

@kieronparr3403

6 ай бұрын

Agree 100%

@philipdavies5195

6 ай бұрын

They are a micro nation. They might beat some of the other micro nations in the Carribean and Oceania. No micro nations exist in Africa though. Even in a micro nation World Cup let’s say all fifa nations with less than 100,000 people. They would be amongst the worst 3 teams. That’s just what happen when you only have a 30,000 population and unlike the Carribean islands you don’t have big diaspora abroad eligible to play for you also. Montserrat for example have the lowest population of any fifa member (I think) with less than 5000 people. But they would be heavy favourites against San Marino as virtually their entire squad is made up of people playing in England including a number of players in league 1 so of which has also played at higher levels in the past.

@bababababababa6124

6 ай бұрын

This is why I believe there should be a separate WC for the lowest ranked teams. Imagine a competition for teams like San Marino and Cambodia 😂and the winner gets qualification into the main WC or playoffs at least Probably a dumb idea but at least micro nations in Europe can show that they’re not really as bad as people think against teams like St Vincent

@siler22

6 ай бұрын

No they wouldnt they played Saint Lucia recently twice and lost and drew

@mnm5165

6 ай бұрын

@@siler22 that’s why I said some. They surely would beat teams like St Kitts or Vanuatu

As Japanese we were fortunate enough because we started our domestic football league before all this inflation of transfer markets. There’s no way we brought player like Zico nowadays. Also we quickly figured out that bringing high level players doesn’t contribute to national team, and focused more on next generation training.

@user-cy5ys6zp2q

6 ай бұрын

イニエスタは？

@smallersketchy8203

6 ай бұрын

What's your opinion on the Japanese women's team?

@kcc853

4 ай бұрын

Hahaha y’all suck and lost to Iraq

@shawneric3340

3 ай бұрын

@@user-cy5ys6zp2qあれは楽天が強すぎた

As a Venezuelan you have no idea how big this change of momentum feels, we are mainly a baseball country, at much we have focused on developing football on our country for the past 20 years and know we are over countries like Brazil and Chile on the hardest world cup qualifiers in the world, for the first time the other teams are staring to respect us.

@omessiasdogol

6 ай бұрын

Ojalá clasifiquen

@RoleCrow

6 ай бұрын

@@omessiasdogol gracias!

@MrMMAJER

6 ай бұрын

Todos queremos que Venezuela clasifique 🇦🇷🫂

@allanfrd

6 ай бұрын

Solo faltan ustedes para decir que todos los paises de Sudamerica fueron a un mundial, al menos una vez. Pero los otros paises no se los van a poner facil, ustedes tienen que ganarselo, Suerte..

@Fl4ngerr

6 ай бұрын

You must have a short-term memory. Europe has the hardest world cup qualifiers.

13:45 as Argentinian, as well of most South américan countries football is always present when we grow up. I am 34 a I dont play anymore but when I was young we played every day, in school between breaks, after school, saturdays and sundays. And its been like that for everyone no matter social background. We all had that one teamate we all thought would play profesional, as long as it that way there will always be new world class players.

@halamadridpatriotsnationgo1057

6 ай бұрын

football is pretty much Argentinian's hobby.

@waitingforapril

6 ай бұрын

@@halamadridpatriotsnationgo1057It is not a hobby, it is part of the fabric of our lives. Pretty much.

This is literally why I play Football Manager. I love seeing how crazy the world becomes after 10, 20, and 30+ years. I love having a hand in said chaos. I do not know what the future has in store for football, but I hope it never stops being the chaotic, unpredictable, ever-changing, hope-destroying, nerve-fraying sport it currently is.

@Leonardohummel

6 ай бұрын

Took me 50 years to get ireland top 10 in european leagues. Still trying to win the champions

@bababababababa6124

6 ай бұрын

@@Leonardohummelhow many UCLs did Bohemian or Derry win

@Leonardohummel

6 ай бұрын

@@bababababababa6124 lol they go down divisións and up again all the time, also they do very poorly in Europe and thats why we can't have a better European coeficient

@ryanmo

6 ай бұрын

@@Leonardohummel make sure you're buying as many wonderkids as you possibly can and loaning them to other irish clubs. i'm talking like at least 5 at each club

@rheinhardtgrafvonthiesenha8185

6 ай бұрын

It’s not chaotic and it is predictable. Europe will only get more dominant over time. Wanna talk reality (sounds harsh and I’m a big meanie I know) but here’s reality. Canada and America don’t care about football. Mexico (and I’ll combine that with all of Asia) are about 5‘5“. That’s cool for a number 10 or a tricky winger but you’re not winning a World Cup with CB‘s and goalkeepers that aren’t even 6ft tall. Africa has no money. And corruption will and has already deteriorated South America to the point where they’re falling further behind Europe. Yes I know Argentina won the WC but in the 70‘s and even 80‘s the leagues were comparable. They’re not close anymore and their players are leaving you get and younger. Not to mention immigration. Nobody is trying to immigrate to Africa, South America etc. The divide is only going to get bigger. This is „content“. Sorry for the dose of real facts

Alfie with the gold standard for international football content, as per usual

In fairness: almost every Montserrat player was born in England, so the population of the island itself is irrelevant

“Let’s not even get started with Germany” yeah that about sums up Germany as a footballing nation at the moment

@Giooseb

6 ай бұрын

our youth are looking decent, the senior team is the only German squad in shambles.

Germany is a Man United of national team. Full of past glories. Reached the peak of its power around 10 years ago before falling off real hard in an unrecognizable way and is still falling.

@saulcat1984

6 ай бұрын

That's correct. And you can't expect them to rise up unless they pretty much change the whole team.

@mattdog1982

6 ай бұрын

They will be back…. My grandad always said “never write off the Germans”

@saulcat1984

6 ай бұрын

@@mattdog1982 Really hope they do. I am a die hard germany fan. And the last 8 years have been so painful 😞

@halamadridpatriotsnationgo1057

6 ай бұрын

Right now, Argentina is Manchester City, Brazil is FC Barcelona, Uruguay is Liverpool and Italy is Juventus.

@Jbkeditz

6 ай бұрын

​@@halamadridpatriotsnationgo1057i wouldn't say Brazil is Barca, more like Chelsea or Juventus. I'd say Netherlands is Barca

although i'm late to this sport (started watching during 2022 WC), I feel like it's an exciting time to watch. I fell in love with the Moroccan and Croatian NT last year and now I'm addicted. I really hope I can see an African team win in my lifetime

@mr.punkie5872

6 ай бұрын

Better late than never. Welcome to the beautiful game!

@believeinbuffalo

6 ай бұрын

@@mr.punkie5872 Thank you!

@user-nl1hk5pu8m

6 ай бұрын

@@believeinbuffalo bro where are you from

@believeinbuffalo

6 ай бұрын

@@user-nl1hk5pu8mUSA

More countries are pouring money to both the men’s and women’s game. Both world cups are an example of that as we saw Morocco and Japan push in the men’s World Cup and Australia make a deep run in the women’s game. Excited seeing the growth of football.

@houzoud2416

6 ай бұрын

Morocco rely on imigrant who born in Europe.

Another sign is the talk of unification between CONCACAF and CONMEBOL. Ironically, this re-emerged thanked to the creation of UEFA Nations League and Europe’s increasing unwillingness to accept South Americans playing in their leagues.

@xh2633

6 ай бұрын

They will merge into one confederation

@xh2633

6 ай бұрын

@@Ian1-ff3vi the issue is money. Concacaf has the American, Canadian, and Mexican economics. Having that trickle down to South America could be a game changer.

@xh2633

6 ай бұрын

That's how bussiness work my dude

@davidbowie5023

6 ай бұрын

@@Ian1-ff3vi If they have loved, Europe should have given South American nations chance to play in Nations League, not buying players only. Instead the creation of Nations League was intended to limit South American countries from playing.

@davidbowie5023

6 ай бұрын

@@Ian1-ff3vi You should look at the South American eyes rather than what you are assuming. South Americans believed that Europe's attempt to create the Nations League was to disable South American national teams from playing competitively. The fact that Nations League format overlapped with FIFA friendlies made South American resentment to occur because South America, with only 10 countries, could not afford to form a Nations League. CONMEBOL didn't even want unity with CONCACAF at the first glance, but UEFA's Nations League system suddenly raised the stake of unity between North and South America. If you said about buying South American players then it is so easy to buy. The South Americans, however, demand their national teams to be allowed playing with Europe's big guns and Europe has prevented it from happening.

There are several surprising results for the minnows you missed in this video: 1.In UEFA club competitions, lesser sides like two Serbian minnows (TSC and Cukaricki) or Rakow Czestochowa did managed to reach the group stage, while Union Saint Gilloise and Bodo/Glimt reached as far as quarterfinal. Even the Faroese side Klaksvik managed to beat the likes of Ferencvaros, Hacken, and Olimpija Ljubljana. 2.Pakistan, Nepal, and Afghanistan making their debuts in World Cup second qualifying rounds for Asian proper. 3.The last Women's World Cup also had a notable surprises. Traditional powerhouses like Brazil, Germany, and Canada were dumped out in group stage, while USWNT crashed out in Round of 16. Lesser sides such as Morocco, Colombia, and South Africa managed to reach the knockout stages, with Colombia making all the way to the quarterfinal and the co-host Australia reaching the semifinal. 4.Estonia was also considered a honorable mentions. Though they finished last in group without a single win, they were somehow went to the playoffs due to the Nations League results.

@danielm6319

6 ай бұрын

People always forget Croatia. I mean. Get independent in 1992, qualify for Euro 1996 beat previous champions Denmark and Turkey, then beat Germamy and Netherlands at World Cup. What a badass debut. And 20 years later my Croatia beat Argentina and Nigeria, again win Denmark and host Russia on penalties, beat England in extra-time and reach a final against France.

@ezraezra2928

6 ай бұрын

@@danielm6319 In 1990s, there was Bulgaria, who were a big underdogs. The 1994 World Cup was a notorious success for the Bulgarian Football. After eliminating future host of the World Cup (and the winners) France in the very last minute of the final day of qualifiers, the likes of Hristo Stoichkov, Yordan Letchkov, Ljuboslav Penev, and so on, became the real dark horse, beating a severely weakened Argentina without Diego Maradona to finish 2nd, despite losing 0-3 to debutants Nigeria on the first match, then proceeded to beat Mexico on penalties and title holders Germany. Eventually, they only finished 4th due to the losses against Italy and fellow dark horses Sweden. But now, Bulgaria is shambles. They had a bad records in major tournaments since then, having only qualified for Euro 2004 and getting embarrassed in the group stage without a single point, and this year was even catastrophic without a single win, although they could salvage a narrow wins on the last 2 games of Euro 2024 qualifiers.

@sueyourself5413

6 ай бұрын

No one, but no one cares about the Womens' world cup. It's not the same sport. Women don't care about it. Stop trying to make the rest of us do it for them.

@yungweedaofficialvevo7807

6 ай бұрын

TSC aren't really minnows as their transfermarkt value is €30m plus they beat Partizan 4-0. Also they were able to attract two top players in Lokomotiv Moscow and Krylia Sovetov due to their ambitions.

Japan in past few years has been terrific I think I'm gonna support them for next world cup edition. They're humble players and I wish them very best for every championship they're going to play. ❤💙

Although Japan is on the rise, South Korea has provided the most significant footballers from Asia thus far: Cha Bum and Park to Son, Kim Min Jae, and now Kang-In...

@nayeemhasan2713

6 ай бұрын

That korean guy from wolves

@tk9839

6 ай бұрын

@@nayeemhasan2713 lol

@FootballDrips

6 ай бұрын

Cha Bum was so good even one of the most known goalkeepers such as Oliver Kahn asked him for an autograph. This was surprising, bc Olive Kahn was the Zlatan version of goalkeepers. He’s an ignorant, angry, hard headed, and self centered goalkeeper and to ask Cha Bum for an autograph is pretty impressive. He was also named as the best Asian player of the century in 1999.

@jacobperez8921

6 ай бұрын

@@nayeemhasan2713Hwang Hee-Chan!

@abhrajitmal6334

6 ай бұрын

Yeah but Japan has better balance and squad depth

Once Pep made mastered how to deliver system based football efficiently, the collapse of individuality in football hurt the powerhouses more. The powerhouse countries had been far more capable of developing higher quality individuals who won them games. With the rise of systems, those types have become deemphasized, which has hurt the powerhouse nations even more than lesser ones. Now, all a minnow needs to do is find a coach with an idea for a system, drill the players in it like mad and he can get them to start doing giant killings... Because the giants' key advantage is now gone.

@stefan5730

6 ай бұрын

Actually no, they just stoped producing even semi decent players. I mean just look at Italy, 15-20 years ago maybe just one or two of these players would make it to the NT.

@tomydurazno6243

6 ай бұрын

Wrong take, Pep didn't invented systems in football! You started watching in 2010??

@darkno6493

6 ай бұрын

Over 80% of that Moroccan side were born in either Spain, France, Netherlands or Belgium. World football is changing but it’s not positively. Minnows like Morocco just rely on European academies to produce talent, they don’t do anything. Even the minority native talent leaves immediately for a European academy. Coaches in Morocco come back to see French, Spanish, Dutch and Belgian talent.

@njnbrlre2679

6 ай бұрын

IT WAS JUHAN CRUYFF

HITC the effort you put into this channel is truly amazing.

Video Idea: The expansion of the World Cup to include 48 teams, and it's impact, for better or worse, on the sport.

@mnm5165

6 ай бұрын

The good: it helps smaller/less successful countries qualify for the tournament that otherwise would never have any chance of even touching the WC trophy The cons: it basically rules out any country that isn’t in Europe, North America, East Asia or some wealthy petro-state in the Middle East from ever hosting the event due to the increased stadium requirements and infrastructure needed to accommodate all 48 teams and their fans

@Support-your-local-team

6 ай бұрын

The worst thing about it from an entertainment perspective isn't the quality of the extra 16 teams but the format. 72 games just to knock 16 of the 48 teams out will be painfully boring.

@lg-0297

6 ай бұрын

@@mnm5165if we weren’t insistent on hosting it in countries that are together, we could just host groups A-D in Argentina. E-H in South Africa. And I-L in Switzerland. Then a week later the KO games can all be hosted in another country. Playing on the same days and Time zones means we can have like 12 hours of football every day in the group stages. Never happening but better than just rotating between USA, Saudi Arabia, a Western European country, and China all the time.

I just have to say I'm very grateful that you take the time to make these well researched and rigorous videos. Without them, there would be somewhat of a void in the world of football coverage. Keep up the great work man

Hoping Australia does well in the future. Our time is long overdue. Edit: I think it can happen in the end. Australians are increasingly exposed to football (soccer here) and we've got lots of young talent - think Kuol at Newcastle and Irankunda soon to go to Bayern. The women have really paved the way despite the dominance of rugby league, AFL and to some extent cricket. Excited for the future!

@whatsafirstname

6 ай бұрын

It is tricky in Australia. The media does not cover the sport unless it is the english premier, the AFL and rugby fans continuously attack football on any social media post to try and discredit the game and stop any momentum and the federal government funds ever other sport except football. So football is really against it. The fact we have qualified for each world cup since 2006 is amazing. Especially when you consider the A League salary caps are $3million australaian

@adampark4238

6 ай бұрын

How does Australians feel about Scotland poaching lyndon Dykes. I feel Scotland messed up not capping souter

@mitchellsmith300

6 ай бұрын

@@adampark4238Used to it. Christian Vieri back in the day. Pissed with Italy in general to be fair 2006 wc

@adampark4238

6 ай бұрын

@@mitchellsmith300 Dykes has done well for us we just need to get the right player to play of him. I'm a Motherwell fan so love Scott McDonald even though he played for one of the old firm

@stackhat8624

6 ай бұрын

Considering FIFA have made it clear that Australia will never host a mens world cup I dont think so.

As a Moroccan, I was quite glad that our national teams in both gender have done an exceptional job. However we would love to become better and the current scope of investment has to be doubled. I am glad that Fouzi Lekjaa was the President of FRMF but we would love to have greater improvement.

@konradvonschnitzeldorf6506

6 ай бұрын

I mean, most moroccan players learned to play and pmayed in youth teams in europe. It was more about immigration the local investment in the sport. Same with Ghana, Senegal and some other teams

@houzoud2416

6 ай бұрын

Thanks to immigrants instead of Fouzi'

@z0rO999

6 ай бұрын

​@@houzoud2416its funny because bono the goal keeper kicked spain out was a pure moroccan product, and the goal in the QF and the assist one of them is a local moroccan player and the scorer is a product of the football acedemy.

@paquinraino8180

6 ай бұрын

@@konradvonschnitzeldorf6506 It's true that most of the players of these teams are developed in France but France benefit from it too

@rapghost1409

6 ай бұрын

The best way for the africans nations is using both more investing in youth accademies and benifite from the europe players

I know Alfie was joking about Alaska, but Obed Vargas from Anchorage is looking like a real talent, and goalkeeper Hunter Sulte is still very young but could potentially grow into a decent player too. Alaska being a cold place where basketball and hockey tend to dominate, I’d imagine their best chance to develop more soccer talents would be thru futsal.

@KanyeTheGayFish69

6 ай бұрын

Footballs probably bigger in alaska than basketball

Hey Alfie, I've been watching your vids for a while. Would you be able to look into the Nigerian national team because they're going through something similar to Norway in which you already done a video on. With the players that they have, many people would think that they have a golden generation coming up but recent results haven't been good. So far in qualifiers for the 2026 WC they drew their first 2 games against Lesotho and Zimbabwe, meanwhile they have the 10th most expensive squad in the world when it comes to player values and the most expensive African squad. And as many people already know, the Super Eagles are overloaded in the attacking position with top attackers in form in top leagues around Europe. You made a video about biggest underachievers in football and Nigeria was on that list and I can confidently say that Nigeria are the biggest underachievers in African football by far as they should be head to head with Senegal and Morocco but they're not.

The only thing I would have added would have been the impact of immigration on player development with non-traditional football nations. For example, Alphonso Davies, the star left-back from Canada was born in a refugee camp in Ghana, and immigrated to Canada at the age of 5. How many future stars may not be born in the country they represent?

Impeccable choice of images as always.

Surprising how Germany actually STILL has an insane team with big stars!

@redheadfromsouthwest6233

6 ай бұрын

Yes austria played with bundesliga Player that played in weak teams

@BC-th3mx

6 ай бұрын

The national team is trash, loses to countries like Poland, Mexico, Korea, Macedonia now. If the players were talented, they wouldn’t be so beatable without foreigners carrying them

@uhm175

6 ай бұрын

Surprising how Germany actually STILL has a trash team with big stars!* There, fixed it for you

@1draigon

6 ай бұрын

@@uhm175 yeah that’s what I meant. The video is focusing on how so many once great times now don’t have stars anymore… France, England, brasil etc But Germany STILL has big players That can’t do anything

@muldrake

6 ай бұрын

Just shows how important the right balance and chemistry is. The issue is that 1. a lot of players are actually overrated and are not that "world class" as they think or they only function in their clubs with their great teammates (Kimmich, Goretzka, Sane, Havertz, Rüdiger, Gündogan), 2. we don't have much up the sleeve because our youth system focused too much on players that are flexible, adaptable and good in positional play and technical abilites. We have a lot of technically gifted, offensive minded players that are kinda samey but we lack players with mentality and with outstanding creativity to do something out of the ordinary AND we lack classic strikers and classic defenders. Our best classic striker (Füllkrug) is far from being on a level with other top strikers and our defenders can play a good ball but they can't defend reliably. 3rd problem would be that there seems to be something wrong with the current hierarchy and chemistry, as the lack of motivation and leadership is just very obvious. The only position we (traditionally) don't have to worry about is the Goalkeeper.

Very interesting and well made video once again 👏🏽

Another good one, Alfie!!!!

19:32 Correction: 90% of all tallented players from Brazil come from South east and south region Especially Sao Paulo and Rio de janiero

love from India 🇮🇳

One of your extremely well researched videos. I've been waiting for a topic like this on Football's World order.

brilliant work again Alfie. i'm American, and one of my personal traditions is to fire up an old copy of Madden 2008 and simulate a franchise while watching Turkey Day games. Football Manager basically. in a small way you can see the larger points that your video makes which is why i think Central America has the most potential to produce a winning team if economic and criminal elements can be reeled in. i was amazed to learn that the majority of Honduras's starters play in Europe. this has never really happened before, many of the 2010/2014 guys played in the US or Mexico or at home (with a few in Paraguay which was interesting). these places have infrastructures for leagues, no matter how poor quality it is, this isn't just popping out oil money these have history. we've seen Costa Rica reach the quarterfinals before. CONCACAF is really benefitting from the Nations League set up, we are seeing stronger teams form (Jamaica's PL contingent)

@iamgreekboy4321

6 ай бұрын

Ps2 madden 08?

You should do a follow up to What is going on with Australain Football. We are about to launch a second tier, where if it proves to be feasible, austrlaia will have promotion and relegation for the first time. You can also discuss the dichotomy betweem how the meida treats the matildas compared with the socceroos, how the media doesn't cover the A League (including the upcoming second tier) yet covers the premier league and how AFL and rugby fans continously attack any social media post about football to try and discredit the game and stop any momentum. Also, how our federal government wont put any money into the game and our socceroos have to hire a rugby pitch to train, yet fund everyother sport.... i couod go on

@68Boca

6 ай бұрын

I'd suggest, for a start. It might be better for your argument, if you learned how to construct a sentence and use the period (or full stop) key.

the only thing Japan is 'ahead of schedule' on is running out of young people, so no they won't ever have 100 professional clubs

@kcc853

6 ай бұрын

Never too late to sign up grandpas for the teams 😂

Didn't expect the surprise Peckham mention, big up SE15

Another great video.

Calling Norway a "once superteam" is quite the overstatement imo

Incredible video!

The amount of effort you put into these videos is astounding. The world is going to hell in a handbasket. Fortunately for me, I'll be long gone by then but I worry about my son. I love the Japanese team. They're come out of nowhere to start picking big nations off. The amount of Japanese players in the Bundesliga is unprecedented. Mitoma for Brighton has been incredible. My team Liverpool bought Endo, Germany seem to be completely fuct. This upcoming Euro's, if England don't win it'll all be down to Southgate. Personally, I'd rather the FA offer Pep or Jurgen 10m to take them into the tournament. You know that neither of them would mess up a change in tactics.

@Support-your-local-team

6 ай бұрын

The world is "going to hell in a handbasket" for many reasons but how is international football becoming more competitive a bad thing? It seems to me that it's a rare positive.

@DjinnandTonik

6 ай бұрын

@@Support-your-local-team he's obviously referring to the climate apocalypse part of the video

amazing video ❤️

> Alaska's inevitable superteam 18-year-old Obed Vargas: "My time to shine!"

Alfie should really consider being a Geography teacher😂Lovely video Alfie👌💯🐐

12:59 Wow I actually want a documentary about Lee Wai Tong, love from Hong Kong

The focus on climate in this video is incredible. These things cannot be predicted with much accuracy at all, and climate based predictions of the last half century or so have a spotty track record at best. We are already 20-40 years passed the apocolypse approximations of climatologists of the 70s and 80s. There is good news in terms of climate when it comes to the Ozone layer and Antarctica, but of course that gets ignored, and the globe is only warming depending on when you start your measurements. Your starting point for whether or not earth is warming or not is critical to your conclusions

great video, can you make a video about everton’s struggles and possible relegation in the near future

Thanks!

Thanks for that big ol' ray of sunshine, Alfie. Who else needs a drink or eight after that?

Not disputing that the gap is diminishing but that is largely a result of increasing tactical sophistication. There is a global market for coaches and few countries object to having a foreign coach

Nice shout out to Luxembourg, much appreciated 🇱🇺

A true sociological work. Great video.

I think it would be interesting for you to expand on the point you made about AI's effect on football with its own seperate video

Northern Fabio Silva with another interesting video.

I hope the balance in Football also change in the top 5 Europe Leagues. Their SHOULD NOT be the same treats winning the leagues and hopefully that CHANGES

2:19 didn't expect to see my neighborhood show up in a HITC sevens documentary

As an Indonesian it is such a shame to see such a football crazy population be wasted by our football association which is constantly being used as a political vehicle

Came for a video about football, left with existential anxiety

Squad depth will start beinh more important and not just number but quality in depth

Make a video about Bulgarian football. It has changed a lot in the last 20-30 years

Video idea: Philippines national football teams, both men and women. Explain their potential and short term strategies but failing long term prospects

Let's goo Maldives mentioned 🎉

Intersting as this is literally the opposite of what is happening to the club game. the club game is becoming more monopolised

Tbf alot of the smaller nations are now using their diaspora alot more than use to ever be possible. Like even 20 years ago it was no where near as possible for Montserrat to fill their side with only English born players like what they do rn and thats the case across the board

@konradvonschnitzeldorf6506

6 ай бұрын

This

To Gibraltas defence, they got a red card very early on. For a national team like Gibraltar, playing with 10 men on the pitch for 80 minutes agains a national team like France will always end in a total massacre.

As a brit I'd like to say a massive well done to Luxembourg, Kazakhstan, Albania and others for a great qualifying... Luxembourg though 🙌

@Frserthegreenengine

6 ай бұрын

steady on, Luxembourg and Kazakhstan have yet to qualify, they still have the play-offs to go through (I wish all teams in the Play-offs well ). But Albania did well though, certainly well done to them.

@diomuda7903

6 ай бұрын

Albania is deserved. Luxembourg has done an exceptional job. But Kazakhstan is a disgrace for being a sportswashing state. It's UEFA's decision in 2002 enabled despotic governments of Russia, Saudi Arabia and Qatar to believe on using sports for politics.

@benjeffery9958

6 ай бұрын

Luxembourg and Kazakhstan have done exceptional regardless, I don't expect them to qualify and in regards to politics, notice how I didn't discredit the players and people of Kazakhstan because of politics... its not about politics in football , I can imagine there are players of working class nobility doing themselves and country very proud

@diomuda7903

6 ай бұрын

@@benjeffery9958 I don't want Kazakhstan to qualify at all. What have we learnt from over two decades of Kazakhstan's sportswashing campaign to brainwash Europe that it can compete with it while at the same time, Kazakhs are left starved and repressed by the government? I was in Kazakhstan and I witnessed how dismal Kazakhstani football system is. Kazakhstan is not North Korea, but it should not be part of European football family. Europe should exclude countries with political tendencies out of UEFA, like how we did to Russia.

@chileanhussar2659

6 ай бұрын

@@benjeffery9958 Well, most Kazakh players they are currently having, majority are based in Astana, which is funded by the authoritarian government of Nazarbayev and the current successor Tokayev from the oil wells in the Caspian Sea (source: Wikipedia). I think they have lived like kings while the people are poor or working-class, so basically Kazakhstan is a national team of the rich and corrupt elite.

I think Haiti Women National Team is becoming a world competitor. Even in women football , things are changing .

It's good that the balance of power in world football is changing, it's been a long time coming but it's necessary and welcomed.

Lovely if not quite distressing video

This is an incredible video, and an incredible channel. Baked into this soccer video is one of the most succinct discussions of the ramifications of climate change I’ve ever heard 😂.

I have complete faith in Alaska becoming a soccer powerhouse. 🙏

Come for the football, stay for the existential crisis. great video

Alaska's inevitable super team. Looking forward to it.

The Euros will not be moving from 24 to 32 teams. UEFA already confirmed that.

@stackhat8624

6 ай бұрын

yeah, until they change their mind

@ezraezra2928

6 ай бұрын

32 teams in Euro might be good, especially after this tournament had a notable absentees such as Norway and Sweden, but it also caused a lot of troubles. Players getting exhausted with this extended schedule and bigger teams could declined a lot.

@stefan5730

6 ай бұрын

@@ezraezra2928What is the point of a 32 team tournament in Europe when Europe has even barely that many countries? Thats's no longer a tournament, that's a league.

@ezraezra2928

6 ай бұрын

@@stefan5730 Even Asia and Africa didn't want 32-teams tournament because of the same factor. The Asian Cup and AFCON with 32 teams means it will be a half number of all members from AFC/CAF and they are quite mediocre than Europe.

@alexandre4970

6 ай бұрын

@@ezraezra2928 it has more to do with qualifiers and how the general audience would lose (even more) interest in them. It's a big loss of TV money for UEFA.

Hi there, I'm a time traveller from 2123. The world cup champions in my era are Antarctica who just hosted their first World cup. England Scotland and Wales FC formerly known as Manchester City have just won the European Super League, The Earth Cup and the Interplanetary Champions League in a historic Treble but dark clouds hang over their victory as they're still under investigation for 115 FFP charges from 2008-2018 and may face a points deduction and Thiago Silva is still one of the best defenders in World Football.

15th Nov 2019 nz vs Ireland at Aviva 3-1 to Ireland 22nd Nov 2023 nz vs Ireland at Aviva 1-1 used to be the whipping boy of the west yet our most successful non-ofc oppnent is china with about 80% wins

I'm a bit confused by the comparison of average age in Germany with median age in countries with younger populations. They're not the same metric. Other than that, great video as always!

@shogunboy2275

6 ай бұрын

Probably confused average as median rather than mean. Although they do actually measure the median age of populations as well.

I feel like an international tournament for only nations below 1mil population. Give us the battles between Gibraltar, San Marino, etc.

I am interested in the topic Alfie liked the most here: democracy and authoritarianism in football. People insist that football is non-political but it has hardly been the case. *Dinamo Zagreb vs Red Star Belgrade in 1990* is now depicted as a struggle between Croatian democratic fighters vs autocratic Serbian rulers, at least in Croatia. *Kazakhstan's move from AFC to UEFA in 2002* has been now seen as an attempt by a dictatorship to corrupt democratic Europe and there are also growing, though limited, campaigns demanding expulsion of Kazakhstan from UEFA due to Kazakhstan's lack in common support for democracy in Europe, while Asia is favourable to autocratic states. This is likely to keep growing due to Kazakhstan's support for Turkey and Azerbaijan and the deterioration of relations of both three Turkic states to other European nations. *Argentine football during the junta era* was a mixed bag when Argentina won the first World Cup under a military junta that tried to refurbish image of Argentina's repressive human rights record and declining economy, which helped explaining why Argentina has been in an endless crisis. *Iranian football quagmire since 1979* is a fascinating one because despite Iran's strong footballing prestige, Iran has failed to win any major trophy since 1976 and many Iranians have blamed the Islamic regime for this. Recently Iranians have expressed wary after Iran suffered a blowing comeback from Uzbekistan to drop two points. *How Hitler and Mussolini used the Olympics and World Cup* in the early days when sports were just expanding.

Euro 2032 in Italia and Türkiye or Euro 2036 would probably be expanded from 24 teams to 32 teams. Because we had just 3 tournaments with 24 nations and it's still too early to expand into 32 nations. It needs to be 4, 5 or 6 tournaments of 24 nations like we already had 16 nations in 5 Euros, 24 nations in 4 World Cups and 32 nations in 7 World Cups. I think that 2050 FIFA Nations World Cup would be expanded to 64 nations with 2 OFC guaranteed places and all COMNEBOL nations would had guaranted places.

id love to see a video that explains the unprecedented growth of the womens game that alfie mentioned

Climate change , conflict geopolitics, migration crisis, etc are things I don’t want to think about because futbol is what I used to escape all that.

@neocell710

6 ай бұрын

THANK YOU!!! None of this has anything to do with football, football just happens to exist in society but it's ENTERTAINMENT ONLY!!!!

A Montserrat shout-out! My people are on the rise!!!!!!

It is true that Brazil' Germany' Italy' Netherlands etc don't have the star studded talent they once had i mean these days you could really only name 1 or 2 players that are genuinely world class while in the past those teams had world class talent everywhere where are all those players gone and why aren't they being produced at the same rate anymore

@Frserthegreenengine

6 ай бұрын

I would say the Netherlands still pretty star-packed, granted not as star-packed as it was in 2006-2014 but still quite good. Out of those 4 teams you mentioned, the Dutch are the only ones out of those 4 that have seen some actual form of recovery and definitely the best performing team out of those 4 (maybe Brazil - once they get a new manager). The Netherlands are still producing some fine footballers at quite a decent rate (maybe not as much as they used to but still decent), more so than the Italians for sure. There are a lot of Dutch players in the Premier League and many more promising young Dutch talent on the horizon, not so much in Italy or perhaps even Germany (though Germany still produce some very good footballers, especially midfielders, their defenders have been poor though and they haven't quite found a proper dedicated striker)

@BlitZkrieG988

6 ай бұрын

​@@Frserthegreenengine Germany got an All Star team and pure talent. Wirtz or Musiala for example. Nearly their whole line up is spiked with Champions League Winners. Talent isnt the problem here. Its their lack of will and mentality. Rudi Völler said that they lack on german values. Values which made us so strong. The pure will.

@Frserthegreenengine

6 ай бұрын

@@BlitZkrieG988 fair point. Germany isn't completely rubbish. They have brilliant midfielders but their defenders are really bad (Rüdiger perhaps being the sole exception). Like you say their lack of will and mentality is a big problem and morale is low. I would also say their lack of a dedicated finisher is also problem, they simply have not found a reliable replacement for Miroslav Klose. Germany never lost a game in which Klose scored, kinda shows just how essential he was for Germany.

@stefan5730

6 ай бұрын

@@BlitZkrieG988Germany has no decent striker since Klose. I don't know what happened that Germany isn't capable of producing even a mediocre striker anymore.

@BlitZkrieG988

6 ай бұрын

@@stefan5730 Füllkrug isnt that bad. Klose wasnt really successful on the club stage;) As i've said. Its all an mental issue. But those kind of issues are harder to fix.

As a very minor point I would suggest that the England team of Gerrard and Cole etc was not full or world class players, but top tier premier league players. There was, then, a big difference. Now, the England team has world class players but until the changes in grass roots training of English talent took hold I don't think any English grown player was world class. Club sides relied on the foreign players to add the needed class. English players had no tactical flexibility and the national team would inevitably resort to humping it long when the chips were down. Curiously this mentality can still be heard in British commentary, whenever a team is losing the suggestion from the ex pro co-coms is always to get the ball out wide and put some crosses in. If the team has been doing that then they are stumped.

@tyrellking6332

6 ай бұрын

There is no way rooney ,gerrard ,lampard and scholes could'nt be considered world class if the current team have world class players lmao.

I don't think Germany's decline is permanent or even long lived. With 80mil people and the infrastructure they have new talents pop up all the time

@ERICTENHAG56

6 ай бұрын

They will comeback

Over 80% of that Moroccan side were born in Spain, Belgium, Netherlands or France. The minority who were born in Morocco left and joined European academies. Without those European countries and their youth systems, those North African sides wouldn’t have anywhere near as much success. It’s the same issue I have with Ireland and Wales, they rely heavily on England. It’s world football but really it’s still very much a reliance on specific European countries and their academies.

@Support-your-local-team

6 ай бұрын

I'm not sure about Spain but Belgium, Netherlands and especially France have massively relied on their colonial past to produce talent. That's fine but when the flow of talent goes the away it's suddenly a problem? England has hugely benefited not just from colonialism but from being the wealthiest country in the British Isles at the direct expense of smaller neighbours. When that movement of people from Ireland to England creates England internationals who wouldn't have otherwise been born in England like Kane, Rooney, Gerrard, Grealish, Rice it's fine but when Ireland call up fecking Callum Robinson and Clinton Morrison they're leeching?

@mauratlantean3002

6 ай бұрын

You can be born anywhere, that's a variable. You know what's constant ? BLOOD. Wherever you are born you will always have your parent's blood. Plus a lot of our key players are pure moroccan local products, like En-Nesyri, Bounou, Ounahi, Aguerd, Attiat-Allah...

@neocell710

6 ай бұрын

@@Support-your-local-team That is utterly false mate. You're essentially making note of the fact that England and France HAPPEN to have nationals with a non-native background and.........so what??? It's football, any fool with a pair of feet can play, having a certain background doesn't change that. Your comments here are a little xenophobic and blatantly stupid and ignoring the simple reality that England, France and others can simply afford to play well regardless of demographic bollocks you're going on about. So what if Great Britain, Spain and France had colonies in the past??? It's not different from others colonies from before so what's your point here???

@neocell710

6 ай бұрын

@@mauratlantean3002 Yes but a good number of them are Europeans( born ) so clearly Morocco have benefitted from immigration which isn't a bad thing at all tbh. You Moroccans did well( I'd give credit to the coach rather than the players ) and that shouldn't be downplayed by dumb political rubbish.

@Support-your-local-team

6 ай бұрын

@@neocell710 You've completely missed the point. I didn't say any of the demographic factors being discussed are negative or that there's anything wrong with people being from a "non-native background". I was responding to the OP saying smaller countries just rely on bigger ones to produce talent by pointing out that it goes both ways. My point was that colonisation has undoubtedly helped the colonising countries improve their talent pool so it's only fair that the colonised countries benefit in some way from it too. Maybe next time actually read what someone has said before you accuse them or being xenophobic or talking bollocks. 🤡

As always, the key to everything is money. Europe only has the best leagues in the world because it sold an idea of prestige to the rest of the world. once that fades, there’s no other reason besides money for players to move from their own countries. this dilemma happens for example in Mexico all the time, where young players prefer to stay at home because they’ll make just the same if not more staying home than moving to another continent. if leagues like brasil and argentina can figure out how to get more revenue then their players wouldn’t see a need to leave. After all, who would rather live in manchester or dortmund instead of Rio or Buenos Aires?

@stefan5730

6 ай бұрын

Europe has invented football so of course the best football is there. Even the south Americans have been introduced to football by Europeans.

@rockstepguy3524

6 ай бұрын

@@stefan5730 It depends, the first time Europe played against a South American nation that no one could point on the map in an tournament they lost, the second time they also lost and the finalists were both South American, same goes for the first world cup (Uruguay/Argentina didn't participate in 1934/1938 as a sign of protest tho). Throughout the 60's Brazil had the best club league actually, and up until the 90's South American clubs doubled their European counterparts on international trophies. It all changed with the introduction of the "Bosman law", wich gave European clubs the chance to buy players from everywhere around the world and not only use locals from their own countries (+some foreigner spots), then only the teams with more money started to win while a lot of "historical" ones were forgotten to time, South America suffered a "talent exodus" that not only left their clubs in bad shape, but also left the national teams with the disadvantage of having certain players playing for Europe and others in local leagues (a problem that Europe doesn't really have), making it difficult to get a solid playstyle (like this Brazil for example, Brazilian players formed in Europe can't adapt to Diniz neo-"jogo bonito") and having an imbalance of power.

How do you manage to use Getty Images like this?

@soundscape26

6 ай бұрын

With a subscription to the site.

@BlueflagAlpha

6 ай бұрын

Being a subscriber on that website

uefa has said theyve thrown out plans for a 32 team euros, it may come back at some point but not for a while

12:39 HERTHA MENTIONED

Only European and south American teams have won the world cup and it doesn't look like changing any time soon.

@krude-ck3wy

6 ай бұрын

@@badrm9175 I very must doubt it. The problem with African nations is too msny of their players end up playing for European teams. And Asian teams never have enough good players in one team.

@krude-ck3wy

6 ай бұрын

@@badrm9175 why? They don't do any better than the rest of there continent does!

@krude-ck3wy

6 ай бұрын

@@badrm9175 neither of them can compete with the rest of the world at the moment

@neocell710

6 ай бұрын

If S.A and European teams keep winning then good, I'm only interested in the best, not everyone's favourite.

Suggestion for the famed ‘player/team name as paragraph link’ club alongside Adu, Shaw, Watsmore. Maybe you could add a particularly magnified/blown-up crest of German icons Bayern Munich, for ‘buy and large’ (Bayern Large? Bit of a stretch? Anyways another great video! Gave me the vibe of a final unwritten chapter of David Goldblatt’s football magnum opus The Ball Is Round)

@T.E.S.S.

6 ай бұрын

no

@OsofoGriot

6 ай бұрын

clearly not a fan of puns..... but maybe you're a fan of one-time Independiente keeper Fabian Assman? @@T.E.S.S.

Preach

the game is now really a world game

Love the lil Peckham mention there Alfie ❤️

one fine prediction

I think it will change for a while but bounce back and repeat.

You missed out bergkamp from the netherlands list 😢

Maybe also because the "big countries" players also play a crazy amount of hard games at club level? Therefore weakening their national squads?

Can you make a video about multi club ownership

Japan is looking amazing.

@ERICTENHAG56

6 ай бұрын

All this and still its European and south american countries winning wc

@natoslayer2907

6 ай бұрын

@ERICSEVENHAG56 I could see Japan winning 2026 wc

@ERICTENHAG56

6 ай бұрын

@@natoslayer2907 they can't even get past round of 16 chill out

@saulcat1984

6 ай бұрын

​@@natoslayer2907Yeah if only the asian nations play.

@stefan5730

6 ай бұрын

Yeah, that's why a Croatian team with Modric who is older than fire beat them.