FIFA put plans for Club World Cup, Nations League on hold
KIGALI: FIFA president Gianni Infantino has delayed any decision over his plans for a lucrative new Club World Cup and global Nations League amid widespread opposition, instead setting up a taskforce to further look into the proposals.
Speaking at a press conference in the Rwandan capital Kigali, where the FIFA Council has been meeting, Infantino said the taskforce will present its “concrete proposals” at a meeting in Miami next March.
The plans have been harshly criticised by opponents who say the international calendar is already overcrowded and have accused the FIFA president of using the projects to help win votes for re-election in June next year.
The delay will be seen as a way of appeasing the likes of the World Leagues Forum, a grouping of professional leagues, which sent a letter to Infantino demanding that no final decision be taken in Kigali and lamenting the lack of any consultation.
UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin has also been critical of the plans, and reports this week suggested delegates from European football’s governing body could walk out if their views were not heeded in Kigali.
“I am happy to have contributed to peace in the world today if some were seeing it so dramatic,” Infantino remarked.
“Everyone agrees the Club World Cup needs to be revamped, everyone in the world.
“There are some who have different interests. We were not going to decide today how to revamp them, there are different options on the table.”
Infantino is pushing to revamp the Club World Cup by boosting it from seven clubs to 24 in a fouryear format, 12 of them European. Currently the competition, which elicits little interest outside of Latin America, is played every year in December.
The 48-year-old indicated that it would be better for FIFA to organise a tournament that redistributes money around the game than for top European clubs to regularly travel abroad to take part in money-spinning friendly matches. ”Everyone is happy to go around the world and try to cash in as much as possible. The only organisation in the world of football which is doing solidarity and development all over the world is FIFA,” he said. ”There is certainly space for these games, interesting club games, without adding to the international match calendar.”
Meanwhile, FIFA are opposed to La Liga’s plans to stage the match between Barcelona and Girona later this season in the United States, Infantino confirmed.
“Following a request of guidance from the Spanish FA, US Soccer and CONCACAF...the council emphasised the sporting principle that official league matches must be played within the territory of the respective member association,” he said.
FIFA will also raise the prize money for the Women’s World Cup from US$15mil (RM62mil) to US$30mil (RM125mil) starting with next year’s edition in France, Infantino announced, though critics immediately said the increase was not enough.
He said US$20mil (RM83mil) would be made available for pre- tournament preparations, meaning that US$50mil (RM208mil) in total would be allocated across the 24 participating nations.
The prize money is double the amount awarded in the 2015 World Cup in Canada and for the first time clubs will be rewarded for their players taking part in the tournament, as is the case in the men’s edition.
“It’s a very important message for women’s football. It will certainly boost this World Cup even more,” Infantino told a news conference.