FIFA may be open to cross-border leagues
DOHA: FIFA could drop its longstanding opposition to cross-border leagues, as it looks to help countries who are struggling to compete with the giants of the game, president Gianni Infantino said on Friday. FIFA has always opposed attempts to create multinational leagues, saying that the basis of the game was the national competition.
Sepp Blatter was strongly opposed to such plans and European governing body UEFA has also blocked such initiatives and looked to its own competitions as a way of providing extra competition and revenue for clubs. Yet faced with the commercial power of the big leagues, such as England’s Premier League, Spain’s La Liga and Germany’s Bundesliga, Infantino says the idea of new structures should be considered. “We need to be open to discussions. The Belgians and the Dutch have been discussing creating a Benelux league and these discussions have been going on for 20 years and we are always saying no, because we are based on national leagues,” he told reporters.
“But maybe it helps? Maybe it is the only way out, maybe in Europe they have to think about this, maybe in Africa. I was proposing something like this for Africa. I think we have the duty to study these things then we will see where it goes.”
In the early 2000s a plan was drawn up for an ‘Atlantic League’ featuring clubs from the Netherlands, Belgium, Portugal and Scotland, with some Scandinavian countries but was rejected by UEFA. There have also been suggestions of a Czech-Slovak league, a Balkan league and a ‘Habsburg League’ in Central and Eastern Europe. Currently clubs in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland are in exploratory talks about a possible ‘AllIsland League’, while Scottish pair Rangers and Celtic have often talked about joining the English Premier League.
Fuelling such talk has been the fact that clubs from smaller leagues have increasingly struggled to reach the group stages, let alone the knockout phases, of the Champions League.
BIGGER CLUB CUP
Infantino said FIFA is assessing nine offers from companies seeking to buy the commercial and broadcasting rights for a new club competition he hopes will become the most lucrative in world football. A rebooted Club World Cup is due to begin in June 2021 with a 24-team group stage.
FIFA’s ambitions to become more heavily involved in club football, beyond its usual main remit of organising national team competitions, poses a challenge to the Champions League run by UEFA, where Infantino was general secretary before being elected to run FIFA in 2016.
Infantino also said the Women’s World Cup could be staged every two years. The competition is currently held every four years.
Infantino said he is keen on a proposal from the French federation to double the frequency of the Women’s World Cup because of its “incredible impact for the development of the game” compared to club football.