By Paul Nicholson
May 23 – The $25 billion international calendar revamp proposal that FIFA was going to ask its members to vote on at its annual Congress in Moscow has reportedly been postponed. It is now unclear when a decision and vote will be taken, though more detail of the proposal is expected to be shown to FIFA Council members when they meet June 10 prior to the June 13 full member congress.
A report in the Financial Times says that FIFA has negotiated an extension to the deadline set by the international consortium of investors. FIFA has so far not responded to requests for confirmation of the deadline having been moved, or when that deadline would now expire.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino had said initially that he had only a short window to get the basics of the $25 billion offer agreed with a deadline of the FIFA Congress presumed to be the last opportunity for approvals to meet that timeline.
Criticised as soon as he floated the proposal for not providing sufficient information on the deal structure or investors, or how it would impact confederations, Infantino insisted he was unable to share more information because he had signed a confidentiality agreement. Effectively Infantino was asking members to sign off on what would be the biggest overhaul of FIFA’s international calendar in the governing body’s history, but not giving them the information needed to inform their decision, instead dangling a $25 billion carrot as incentive.
At the weekend it became known that UK financial advisory firm Centricus were co-ordinating the consortium of investors – one of whom is known to be Japan’s SoftBank. It is not clear whether Centricus’ involvement implies that the $25 billion offer is not actually fully funded within the group of investors so far. If that was the case then the postponement of the deadline would also suit the fundraising efforts, as well as give Infantino more time to rally support.
So far he has struggled to get that support with only Real Madrid and Barcelona saying that they see an attraction in a revamp of the Club World Cup, though it is expected that other big European clubs would unlikely to be against the proposal. However, they do not have a vote at FIFA.
This week LaLiga president Javier Tebas took the opposite position of his two leading clubs saying that the proposals would only further concentrate football’s finances into the hands of a few, calling the plan “totally irresponsible”. Tebas may have been typically outspoken but is it a view shared by most leagues and stakeholder groups – particularly those in Europe.
Infantino’s plan is for a $25 billion investment over 12 years in a new national team competition – a Nations League seemingly based on UEFA’s new competition – and a 24 team Club World Cup every four years.
The postponement of a vote on the investment proposal clears FIFA Congress’ political and voting focus for the 2026 World Cup hosting decision – a process that has become equally controversial in the past three months as Morocco and the US/Mexico/Canada bids battle, in politically muddied waters, for the honour.
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