The FIFA 2022 World Cup finally kicked off in Qatar on Monday. There had been so much anticipation during the runup to day and many employers began to make arrangements for their staff to be able to watch matches during their break. In some workplaces there’s a football match schedule hung up on a wall in the back and a huge projector screen with comfy chairs so that their people can relax and catch up on a match in play. Even the British Prime Minister had himself filmed hanging up a match roster on his office wall, even uploading it onto Instagram!

That’s how important the World Cup is. In fact, there are world cups for all sorts of sporting events. But there’s something about football that gets everyone’s passions riled up, even those of the most unlikely kind. Even if they’re not sports fans in general and not football fans specifically, they still want to get involved in the World Cup football frenzy in some way. They’ll be looking for venues that will be hosting the games, with dinner and drink, or they’ll be trying to get a free cable channel that will broadcast the games, especially for a specific match that interest them. And these people are not just men around the world but women from all countries and cultures and from all age groups too. Unlike other sports, the World Cup has a very unique feature that draws everyone to it even if they’re not fans of the game per se.

But that being said, team sports are very special compared to lone sports like tennis, snooker, darts or golf. We have basketball, netball, baseball, rugby and cricket all with their own cups.

But not all team sports are created equal. For example, baseball and basketball are very American and cricket is popular in a select few countries like England, Australia, Pakistan, India and South Africa.

None of these team sports is on a par with football. Unlike many team sports, football speaks a universal tongue that transcends cultural, religious, language, gender and age barriers. Everyone wants a piece of the game. Why is that? Well, the other sports may be fun in which to partake or to watch but sometimes the rules of these other team sports are not always easy to grasp. Football does have rules but they’re easier to follow than, say cricket or baseball. There is indeed a skill required for all these games but it’s easier to just knock a ball around an open space. It requires little or no equipment except a spherical object to kick around. And the goalposts can be two objects, any objects, which most kids can find.

Even if you’ve never played football, you can really get into a game because it can be exciting and fast and a match is usually over in a couple of hours, unlike cricket which can last for a whole day or even five days!

Hosting the World Cup is also a big deal. It’s like hosting the Olympics. It only comes around every few years so it’s a big deal if a country wins the hosting bid. There is really no other team sport like it where so much advanced preparation goes into hosting it. It involves construction of the stadiums and transport and accommodation facilities as well as logistics, marketing, advertising and security. Not to mention the prospects of long-term business partnerships with investors. This never happens in baseball, rugby, or cricket. It’s a very football thing just like it is a very Expo 2020 thing or an Olympic thing.

Also, I think that, compared to team sports like rugby, cricket and baseball, football is relatively safer to play. Yes sports injuries are common in all team sports, and even in some lone sports like tennis and golf, hence tennis elbow and golfer’s elbow, but the number of injuries seems to be higher in rugby and baseball. Rugby is rough with a great deal of player contact in a very brusque sort of way. And baseball injuries have caused long-term brain trauma to some players even though they’re wearing their helmets.

So if there was a universal poll about which team sport is most popular with everyone, hands down, football would be the winner.

Will you be watching the games? Do you have a favourite team that you want to win? Or are you keeping up with it because it’s the World Cup?