Recently, Spain won the 2026 World Cup final against Argentina, a result that was widely celebrated as the public opinion on Argentina generally swung negative.
Among the more justifiable points of criticism, such as racism and foul play, was a more interesting and less believable claim, that the 2026 FIFA World Cup tournament had been rigged in Argentina’s favor.
I don’t care much for the veracity of the claim than the existence of the claim itself. "Rigged" seems to have become an all-too-common excuse for anybody to fall back on, from election results to archaeological discoveries, and apparently now football.
Baseless claims on the internet, of course, are not new. I remember reading conspiracy theories online for entertainment growing up: Area 51, anti-vaxxers, flat earthers. Back then, they were the collective laughingstock of the Internet, relegated to backwater Facebook forums.
But I must admit, it’s not so funny now.
