15.7.2026
Former Super Eagles captain John Mikel Obi has accused fans of Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo of being behind the conspiracy theory FIFA is favouring Argentina and their captain Lionel Messi in the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
While speaking during a chat on “The Rest Is Football” podcast Mikel dismissed any dint of favouritism for Lionel Messi who has had an exceptional 2026 World Cup.
“I’m not buying into that bullshit. This is all the Ronaldo fans coming up with all this crap,” Mikel said.
“If they won their games, which they should have done, they would not play tougher teams. Argentina did their job, they won their games, and they got into the easier group.
“So this is all Ronaldo fans. I don’t like that. FIFA are not favouring Messi.
“Messi is doing his job. He’s playing, he’s scoring goals, and he’s breaking records.”
Mikel and Lionel Messi played in the FIFA 2005 FIFA U-20 World Cup with the Argentine great wining the Golden Boot and Mikel settling for silver. In their club and country career Mikel and Messi met at the 2018 World Cup and in the Champions League when Chelsea faced Barcelona twice.