Revamped Club World Cup important for Asia, says Infantino

KUALA LUMPUR: Fifa president Gianni Infantino has said his controversial plan to expand the Fifa Club World Cup can play a key role in further developing the club game in Asia despite European opposition.

Infantino’s desire to expand the tournament from seven teams to 24 when it is relaunched in 2021 has been opposed by the European Club Association (ECA), which have issued a boycott threat.

But the Swiss administrator told the Asian Football Confederation’s annual congress yesterday that the expansion can help further improve the club game in the 47-member regional body.

“We have been speaking again about how we can improve them and make them better and we have been deciding at the last Fifa Council to give birth to a new Fifa Club World Cup with 24 teams, including three Asian teams,” Infantino said in his address to delegates.

“I witnessed the final of the Asian Champions League in Tehran and there are clubs of great tradition in Asia and it’s important we foster them and it’s important we give them the possibility to shine on the world stage.

“That’s why it’s important to continue to develop our competitions, for example, with the new Club World Cup.”

The reconfigured Club World Cup, which would be played once every four years, would feature eight clubs from Europe, six from South America as well as three each from Asia, Africa and Concacaf — which covers North and Central America nations plus those in the Caribbean — and one from Oceania.

Asian clubs have featured in the tournament since it was created in 2000, with two clubs from the continent — Kashima Antlers from Japan in 2016 and Al Ain of the United Arab Emirates last year — reaching the final. Both lost to Spanish giants Real Madrid.