Racefan76

July 19, 2026

FIFA, Football, and Nostalgia

"My view of a game between Toronto FC and the New England Revolution in May 2025"

The 23rd FIFA World Cup concludes this afternoon. 2010 champions Spain seek another star to add to their crest, but must defeat three-time and defending champions Argentina. This game concludes a 38-day circus touring all over North America. 48 nations have battled before thousands in arenas and millions via television, in pursuit of the title of “World Champion” for four years. Football1 is a sport that reaches all corners of the globe, drawing the world together with the biggest spectacle in sport: the FIFA World Cup.

Yet months before the tournament… I didn’t really care. I was primarily a motorsport guy. I witnessed the highs and lows of Canadian hockey at the national level, winning the 4 Nations Cup and losing to its southern rival in Milano Cortina. I saw the Toronto Blue Jays come oh-so close to bringing the Commissioner’s Trophy up north for the first time since 1993. But football? No, I didn’t care… but it wasn’t always like that.

But that all changed when a friend came over in mid-April, where picking up a dusted copy of FIFA 17 ignited, or should I say re-ignited, a long-dormant passion. A game from a franchise that kickstarted my passion for football had revived my interest just before the beautiful game’s showcase event kicked off.

This is my story of FIFA, football, and my nostalgia for the beautiful game.

The Start

football was just a game I played on the weekend or during the summer break when the weather was nice, but I never had an interest in the professional side of it until I played FIFA 13 on a family friend’s Xbox. I was later gifted the PS3 version of the game.

Brazil, a nation that lives and breathes football, happened to be hosting the World Cup that year, leaving an impression on 13-year-old me. I recall a lot of big moments from the tournament:

The overall spectacle of the game and seeing the whole world (well, at least 32 parts of it) congregate before the game activated neurons in my little brain. I was hooked! I wanted to learn more about football!

Big Tech naturally caught the shine as Facebook and YouTube happily served me all sorts of football-related content. There were videos on the competitions, such as the UEFA Champions League and the Premier League. I learned about the big teams, like the Barcelonas and Manchester Uniteds. Players like Messi, Ronaldo, Pele, Maradona, and so on - every corner led to learning something new! Content surrounding the FIFA game series was abundant, headlined by British YouTuber KSI and his friends known as the Sidemen.

football was also a hot topic at school. Nobody really cared about my interests like space, racing (I still was a big fan, but its share of attention was drastically reduced), or obscure cartoons… but something about Messi or Ronaldo? That gets people chatting! Lastly, there was my local team, Toronto FC. They are the first Canadian team to play in Major League football (the top flight league in the United States and Canada), but were historical backmarkers.

With football having an influence in my social life and having an overbearing presence everywhere I went digitally, I lived and breathed the beautiful game, and that set the trajectory for the next few years.

The Peak

2015 to 2017 was the zenith of my football passion. In September 2015, I bought my PS4 with NHL 16 and FIFA 16 bundled. The former didn’t stay long in my inventory and was traded in, but I logged more than 400 hours of gameplay in the latter.

How, you may ask? Career mode, where one not only had to win trophies controlling a team, but also manage your roster by training, buying, and selling players. I documented my early progress in one save on YouTube, but the series fizzled out and I privatized the videos later. I got fired from my original team (AC Milan) one year in, but ended up playing up to six or seven seasons at Everton, where I won damn near everything there was to win in England and Europe. I did mess around with the online campaign mode Ultimate Team, but I didn’t put anywhere near as many hours into it as I did with career mode.

I wasn’t limited to just the mainline FIFA games. I had my hands on the 2014 FIFA World Cup game strangely released on the earlier line of consoles, as well as the mobile version of FIFA on the family iPad. I bought FIFA 17 on release and did commit more time to Ultimate Team. I didn’t progress as far as I’d hoped, likely because I refused to exchange real money with in-game currency. I’d play with friends both online and offline as well.

Meanwhile, Toronto FC had its golden era almost perfectly aligned within this period. In the 2014-15 offseason, Italian forward Sebsastian Giovinco and American striker Jozy Altidore joined midfielder and captain Michael Bradley to create a brilliant trio that led the team to clinch their first postseason appearance in 2015 with a 2-1 home win against the New Jersey York Red Bulls. It ran concurrently to the Blue Jays’ playoff win against the Texas Rangers, featured an incredible goal by Giovinco… and me! I sat with my brother and mother in one of the front seats.

Toronto FC continued their upward trajectory as they made it to the playoff final in 2016, losing on penalty kicks to the Seattle Sounders. A 2-0 win the year after made for sweet revenge.

There were plenty of great stories in football in this time period as well:

I continued to play recreationally and even tried out for the Toronto FC Academy in Fall 2015. I met expectations… for a 14-year-old boy who weighed 230 pounds with over 33% body fat. I wonder if anyone I played against in the tryout went pro…

The Sudden End

After France hoisted the trophy in Moscow in 2018, my football fandom kind of just… faded away and disappeared. I didn’t buy FIFA 18 or any subsequent FIFA titles. Toronto FC faded from view as their golden era came to a swift end by missing the playoffs entirely. Whatever passion I had for football kind of just… fell down and stayed down?

I stopped following FIFA Youtubers, who all seemed to collectively move on to other ventures… like boxing, rap, and crypto scams. Competitions such as the Premier League, UEFA Champions League, and later the MLS were moved to streaming services, so football content dried up altogether, as I didn’t have the commitment or will to pay a monthly fee. I don’t think I even played football recreationally after high school.

After writing the above paragraph on paper, an idea popped into my head… football isn’t the first or last interest I dropped in my life. For example, I raged about space in elementary school… and I haven’t touched anything space-related in a decade, minus some elective courses to pad my semesters in university. Instead of picking up FIFA 18, I was going through God of War, Spiderman, Gran Turismo Sport, and even had a Nintendo Switch a year later.

Whatever catches our attention or energy usually doesn’t last forever, barring exceptions here and there. football just happened to be one of those topics, and it had its moment in my teenage years. I had since delved into racing further (one such exception) as well as my now line of work: programming. I used to be into JoJo’s Bizarre Adventures, Smiling Friends, Elvis Presley, and even a bit of baseball, as an earlier blog post hinted. People change, and whatever I dropped was replaced with something else. I guess that’s how life goes.

A Revival?

I did keep up with the 2022 World Cup as Canada returned to the tournament after a 36-year absence. Qatar hosted the tournament in winter and, despite all the controversy surrounding their acquisition and preparation, it culminated in a cinematic finale between France and Argentina, ending with Lionel Messi finally winning the World Cup. It was a great moment… but it didn’t loop me back into football like 2014 did.

I made a return to BMO Field, Toronto FC’s home ground, after a 10-year gap. Despite extending their slump with a 2-0 loss, cold weather, and a $7 Coke, it was a decent experience. I’ve vaguely heard of some of the new kids on the block: Erling Haaland, Vinicius Jr, and Jude Bellingham… but didn’t bother watching games on a regular basis as they remained locked behind streaming platforms and I didn’t have the commitment to warrant paying a monthly subscription.

And then… mid-April. Picking up FIFA 17 for the first time in years. The memories, the challenge that came with winning, the wonderful commentary by Martin Tyler and Alan Smith, even the music was banging… it brought a part of my fandom back.

As of publishing, I’ve paid a decent amount of attention to the 2026 FIFA World Cup. It may be in my backyard, but the games are scheduled during work hours and are stupidly expensive. Nevertheless, I’ve enjoyed it. Some goals have been incredible, as have some overall games such as Mexico vs England at the Azteca. A mix of careers across the age spectrum shone: Messi, Ronaldo, Neymar, Modric, Kane, Bellingham, Yamal, Mbappe, Haaland, Vini, Dembele, and so many more. I have even been playing FIFA regularly again, despite the rosters being 10 years old. I don’t know if the sparkle will linger as long as it did in 2014 or be abruptly halted like in 2022, but what mattered was that it showed up.

Gotta love the beautiful game.

1 I’ll be calling it football here since that’s what the majority of people call it. I don’t have a problem with people calling it soccer though, it’s a debate over a non-problem.