By Andrew Warshaw
March 2 – His old boss at UEFA may have taken a somewhat different view but Gianni Infantino seems likely to approve trials of video technology when he attends the International FA Board meeting in Cardiff later this week, his first official function as the new FIFA president.
In an interview with FIFA’s website to mark his first day in office, Infantino said he hopes live trials can begin “sooner rather than later”.
Michel Platini, whose place Infantino took as Europe’s FIFA presidential candidate after the Frenchman was banned by FIFA’s ethics committee, only ever embraced technology reluctantly. But the new man at the helm of world football has made it clear he takes a more modernist approach though cautions against getting it wrong.
“One of the peculiarities of football is the flow of the game. It doesn’t stop like many other sports when you have to time to stop and look at a video,” Infantino said. “In football you have a flow, you have a referee who takes important decisions.”
If approved, live trials will cover questionable goals, penalties, red cards and cases of mistaken identity.
“It’s crucial to see what impact technology will have on the flow of the game,” Infantino said. “So we need to see what type of impact any technological help will have. If the flow of the game is guaranteed, then I think we need to see how technology can help the game, we have to start with tests sooner rather than later. Football is a special game, it’s the most beautiful and most important sport in the world and we don’t have to kill football.”
The Swiss-Italian also insists he will endeavour to involve supporters and players more in future decision-making. “I am a football fan as well,” said Infantino, who beat Asian Football Confederation president, Shaikh Salman, in the race for the FIFA presidency. “I am like them. I am a supporter. I know what it means to travel miles and miles by plane or train to follow your team.
“We have to involve the fans, listen to them and what they say. Football without fans is nothing. We need the players, we need the fans. These two elements have been neglected for too long. They have to be involved in the decision-making process.”
Suggesting FIFA leaders should be “a bit more like fans and a bit less like politicians,” he continued: “We need to listen to the players, we need to listen to their voices, to their experience, to involve them in the activities we do.”
On his controversial proposal to increase the World Cup finals from 32 teams to 40, Infantino insisted it was a perfectly workable idea and would boost interest.
“It’s not a secret that I believe in an increase in the number of teams to 40. This means an increase in representation. We give eight more countries the possibility of participating but many more teams the possibility of dreaming that they can qualify. I think it will have no impact on the calendar, but we need to discuss this and move forward from there.”
The new FIFA president also revealed that the bidding process for the 2026 World Cup, for which the United States is the favourite, would get under way “in the next couple of months”.
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