By Paul Nicholson
April 25 – FIFA president Gianni Infantino has summoned the FIFA Bureau to Zurich at short notice to discuss issues arising from the Bogota, Colombia, FIFA Council meeting where he infamously tabled the $25 billion offer for the Club World Cup and Nations League competitions.
Also on the agenda will likely be the expansion of the Qatar 2022 World Cup to 48 teams.
The FIFA Bureau is made up of the six confederation presidents from the AFC, CAF, CONMEBOL, CONCACAF, the OFC and UEFA. Invitations have also been extended to the confederation general secretaries. The meeting will take place early next week.
With FIFA’s 2026 inspection committee having just completed its inspection visits of North America and Morocco, an initial report on their findings could also be on the agenda. Mounting controversy now surrounds the 2026 host bid criteria introduced at the last minute by FIFA that could prevent Morocco’s eligibility to go forward to the June 13 vote. The FIFA Bureau could be asked to review the findings and any early recommendations.
No official agenda has been published for the meeting and it is not clear who will actually be able to attend at such short notice. The issues on the table have the potential to totally reshape world football’s calendar.
While all three issues (48 for 2022, 2026 bidding and the $25 billion offer) may seem separate on the face of it, all are likely to be politically and commercially entwined in reality.
The proposal made by CONMEBOL President Alejandro Dominguez to expand Qatar 2022 has enormous ramifications both for Qatar but also for the geo-politics of the region if Qatar was made to share an expanded World Cup.
Dominguez, who’s 10 members would be guaranteed six slots at an expanded World Cup, said at the time of the proposal: “As we think big and because we want to do justice, I want to deliver an application letter, signed by the 10 nations of CONMEBOL, for the 2022 World Cup to be played with 48 teams.”
Infantino’s response, if not co-ordinated, was certainly swift, saying: “If it’s possible, if it is feasible, if the others agree too, because it is not a decision that only the president of FIFA or CONMEBOL make … of course we are going to study it.”
That decision could impact on 2026 bidding. If Qatar said no to sharing (who could it share with considering the geo-politics of the region and the political aggression of its neighbours?), and no to 48 teams (though it would be a foolish bet against the Qataris being capable of pulling this off – despite the cost), the only obvious nation who could step in would be the US (and its United 2026 bid-mates Canada and Mexico). They could just shunt forward their 2026 proposal as the 2022 ready-made solution. Certainly it could tick one set of political boxes.
And where does that leave the $25 billion question of the Club World Cup and Nations League buy out (or sell off, depending how you look it). The proposal, if accepted, would rewrite the global international calendar with undoubted impact on the current World Cup – an impact that is unlikely to be positive for what is rapidly becoming a dangerously damaged commercial asset the more the FIFA president plays political Russian Roulette with the international calendar.
It is an incredibly dangerous game for the future of FIFA and with no real guarantees on the table. Asking countries to commit billions to what is ostensibly the quadrennial showpiece of the world game, only to then create two brand new global competitions with potentially similar impact, smells suspiciously like the selling of snake oil, but in terms of 2026 bidders they might not find that out until it is too late.
In Bogota Infantino presented the $25 billion deal as an offer that was on the table for only a short time, giving no detail of where or who the money was coming from, or the exact shape of the proposal and competitions that would result – except that they would be bigger and better than anything seen before and that FIFA would still own 51% and would be the organiser.
He could have tripled the money on the table but still no board with any sense of governance in any sphere of business would have blindly accepted the offer. To think that FIFA’s Council might have is incredible in itself.
Infantino said he couldn’t release details because he had signed an NDA. Those who he signed the NDA with and who hold the $25 billion were a little less circumspect as news emerged a few days later that Japan’s SoftBank were behind the proposal, and that it was driven by Middle Eastern and Asian investors.
Infantino may now be cleared to share more of that information with his confederation cohorts, or at least those that can drop everything and get to Zurich.
Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1735264170labto1735264170ofdlr1735264170owedi1735264170sni@n1735264170osloh1735264170cin.l1735264170uap1735264170