FIFA president Gianni Infantino has come under serious fire recently, but that hasn’t stopped him from looking forward to future World Cups.
The Folarin Balogun controversy has not simply gone away along with the USMNT’s World Cup hopes. There are still widespread accusations of corruption being aimed at the Italian chief.
Despite that, it’s seemingly business as usual for Infantino. He remains confident in keeping his position for another term, and is getting behind the idea of expanding the tournament even further after the success of the North America edition.
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Gianni Infantino seriously exploring 64-team World Cup
Infantino rarely passes up the chance to line FIFA’s pockets — like most presidents before him.
The expansion from 32 to 48 teams has paid off. We have seen outsiders pull off upsets, and no discernible drop in quality of the competition.
Bluewin report him as saying: “It’s been a huge success with 48 teams. Every team played at a high level. Teams from every continent scored goals and earned at least one point. Nine out of ten African teams reached the knockout stage.
“At the last World Cup, there were only five teams from Africa. That just goes to show how important it is to include all teams—to give them this opportunity to participate.
“That’s definitely an issue that will be examined after this World Cup. When organizing a World Cup, it’s important to organize it for the whole world — not just Europe and South America, but effectively the entire world.
“Every nation should be allowed to dream of participating in the World Cup.”
Moving up to 64 teams is a different beast, though, and fans have made it clear they think it’s a step too far. Players already have to play an obscene number of games, and this would only put more miles in their legs.
Expanding the tournament again now would feel more like a cash-grab than something that’s good for the sport.
Infantino is expected to have another term as FIFA president, despite numerous claims that the scandal with Donald Trump and Balogun has done irreversible damage to his reputation — both outside and inside the organisation.
It’s safe to say this won’t be the last we hear of the planned move.
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