Geneva, Jan. 26 (BNA) FIFA President Gianni Infantino linked his plan to host the biennial World Cup on Wednesday with giving more hope to Africans who risk their lives by sea to Europe.
In a speech to European lawmakers, Infantino said football is dominated by the few who “have everything” and should be more global and inclusive.
“We need to find ways to include the whole world, to give hope to Africans so that they don’t have to cross the Mediterranean in order to find a better life, and possibly die at sea,” Infantino said. Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France.
“We need to give dignity, not by giving alms but by allowing the rest of the world to participate as well,” Infantino told lawmakers at a session he attended with Arsene Wenger, FIFA’s director of global development.
Wenger and FIFA have faced stiff resistance in European football since a formal proposal was put forward in September to organize the men’s and women’s World Cups every two years instead of four.
Infantino said that organizing more World Cups would lead to more countries qualifying and more interest there. It will also raise billions of dollars for FIFA and increase funding for its 211 member associations to develop football.
Although Infantino had long worked at UEFA before he was elected to FIFA in 2016, one of the consistent themes of his presidency has been to counter Europe’s dominance of the World Cup – Italy, Spain, Germany and France have won the past four tournaments – and hire their best clubs. Players from other continents.
One of Infantino’s first big projects at FIFA was to add 16 countries to the World Cup in a 48-team tournament starting in 2026, when Africa will have nine entries instead of five. Europe will get 16.
“In Europe, there is no need for additional possibilities and events,” Infantino told lawmakers of the 47-nation Council of Europe, which promotes human rights, democracy and the rule of law.
Infantino said football should not effectively be asking the world to hand over its money and its best players “but we watched on TV”. “We have to make (football) really global, we have to make it really inclusive like the values that built Europe and we also bring them around the world.”
“Maybe the World Cup every two years will not be the answer,” Infantino admitted.
FIFA’s push to host the two-year World Cup has been uncertain since it was halted before an online meeting in December of its members where a vote was previously expected but not called.
The leaders of European soccer’s governing body UEFA and South American soccer’s CONMEBOL have threatened to boycott the biennial World Cup. They said more World Cup tournaments risk disrupting the balance between national football and club teams and damaging continental tournaments such as the Champions League, European Championship and Copa America.
Prominent players such as Kylian Mbappe, the 2018 World Cup winner with France, said that doubling the number of World Cups would weaken his prestige and increase his energy in an already crowded fixture schedule.
The IOC has also publicly criticized FIFA’s plan that could put the World Cup in direct competition with the Summer Games by 2032.
The IOC also mobilized other sports to challenge Infantino in December over soccer’s plan to gain more space and commercial income on the global table.
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