Just a few months remain until the start of the World Cup in Qatar, and the world is so crazy that there are still tickets to be decided… but if you're determined to get in the mood, why not revisit some of the most important football matches of this century and the last? That's what the new service FIFA Plus offers, with dozens of full matches in both men's and women's categories, the latest football news, live broadcasts, and special sections like trivia and documentaries.
Costa Rica will face New Zealand on June 14 for the playoff between Concacaf and Oceania (which had absurd qualifying rounds, I must add). The United Arab Emirates and Australia will do the same on the 7th of that month, with both teams placing a quarter of a spot on the line. Peru will have to wait for the winner of that tie to resolve the playoff between Conmebol and Asia. Wales doesn't know what will happen with Scotland-Ukraine for obvious reasons, and Argentina-Brazil still owe a match!
Remembering a certain lawyer from a famous animated series, some qualifying rounds end... and others 'end.' The World Cup is supposed to start on November 21, but at this point anything can happen. So, how do we quench our thirst for international football? Fortunately, the Champions League isn't disappointing, but if the idea is to watch national teams, we have a suggestion: FIFA Plus, FIFA's new service that, among other things, offers a great number of classic football matches for free.
FIFA Plus: Historic World Football Finals at Your Fingertips
Now, when we talk about classic matches, it doesn't necessarily mean old. Of course, you can go back to the 1970s and 1980s to see some matches that were pure gold, but the final between the Netherlands and Spain from South Africa 2010 is there, as is the last great clash from Russia 2018 between France and Croatia.
As expected, women's football has its place on FIFA Plus with its respective finals, but if full matches are too much for you, there are also special shorts, unforgettable goals, mentions of the Ballon d'Or, and much more. The available archive is enormous, and beyond its entertainment potential, it has a very important educational profile.
What about the rest of the competitions? Fortunately, FIFA Plus has material from the U-20 and U-17 versions, the former Confederations Cup, the brand-new Arab Cup (which served as a beta for the semi-automated offside system), the Club World Cup, beach soccer, and futsal, which continues to grow in popularity.
FIFA Plus was announced through FIFA's official Twitter profile, and it will most likely serve as a spearhead for a more advanced project. For some time, there have been rumors that FIFA wants to create a 'Netflix of football' focused on the international distribution of live matches. Obviously, we imagine that premium content will be securely behind a paywall (although some matches can already be watched here), but a platform with the potential to broadcast thousands of matches per year might be too tempting for football fans...
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