Category: Refereeing Controversies

• Was the 2022 World Cup Scripted for Messi?

  Argentina's 2022 World Cup triumph delivered the fairy-tale finish to Lionel Messi's career — and immediately drew claims that FIFA and the officials had engineered it. Theorists pointed to refereeing decisions, VAR calls and Argentina's penalty count as evidence of a "scripted" tournament, though no proof of manipulation has ever emerged.