By Andrew Warshaw
December 15 – Any suggestion that Gianni Infantino will get an easy ride over his plans to expand the World Cup has been called into question with Europe’s clubs issuing a hard-hitting statement warning of the consequences.
The European Club Association, which represents over 200 clubs, has urged FIFA not to proceed with the idea at its Infantino-chaired January 9-10 Council meeting, saying the number of games played each season “has already reached an unacceptable level.”
“In the interest of the fans and the players, we urge FIFA not to increase the number of World Cup participants,” ECA chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said.
Infantino wants 48 teams at the 2026 World Cup, which would add 368 players and 16 extra squads who would be committed to national team duty for at least one month.
A bigger and more lucrative World Cup would help fulfill Infantino’s election promises to FIFA’s 211 member federations. Expanding the finals could help him achieve his pledge to double development grants to all FIFA’s members if the economics meant more revenue for FIFA, though there has been no detail or economic impact study released on this aspect.
Any recommendation by the Council will go forward to FIFA Congress in May for rubber-stamping but UEFA president Alexsander Ceferin cautioned last week that his organisation had not been fully consulted and could not commit to any expansion until it knew how additional slots would be allocated.
Rummenigge, who now has a FIFA role as deputy chairman of its new football stakeholders committee, urged Infantino not to prioritise political expediency. “Politics and commerce should not be the exclusive priority in football.”
“The ECA Executive Board rejects such initiative and has today sent a letter to Gianni Infantino calling on FIFA not to increase the number of participants at future World Cups. We have to focus on the sport again.”
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