Soccer
FIFA Council not been told which agency will consider 64-team World Cup impact
FIFA Council has not been told which agency its own administration has appointed to consider the impact of a 64-team World Cup, the Press Association understands.
Last month PA had sight of a FIFA research brief seeking an agency to examine the impact of expanding the tournament from 48 to 64 teams.
The brief said FIFA hoped to appoint an agency on August 14, with the analysis to be returned to FIFA by September 11.
PA has learned FIFA Council has not been told which agency has been chosen, causing further concern among its membership following on from president Gianni Infantino’s much-criticised handling of a plan for private investment in a World Cup company.
FIFA has been contacted for comment.
The research brief, first seen by PA on July 31, set out FIFA’s intention to find an agency to “test market appetite and system-wide consequences of this movement (from 48 to 64 teams) including commercial spaces and risk of saturation”.
The brief added: “Consumer or fan evidence may be used where it helps but it should not become the centre of the study that remains a B2B focused study.
“The analysis should enable a clear strategic judgement: does a 64-team format expand global relevance and participation in a way that strengthens the football economy, or do dilution, calendar congestion, execution complexity and saturation undermine the proposition?
“The study must therefore provide an evidence-led view of the opportunity, trade-offs and conditions for success – not advocate for a predetermined outcome.”
PA understands that in normal circumstances, confederations would expect be notified about such briefs so that the external agency could be properly scrutinised.
South American confederation CONMEBOL has advocated expanding the centenary finals in 2030 to 64 teams, a move which would allow co-hosts Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay to host more than the current one game each.
UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin has previously stated the expansion would be a “bad idea” while his CONCACAF counterpart Victor Montagliani told The Guardian prior to this summer’s World Cup in North America that it would “not be prudent” to expand to 64 teams after just one 48-team tournament.
Elsewhere, England and Chelsea defender Lucy Bronze has said “now is a good time for players to speak up” about how football is administered.
On Monday, Bronze was one of a number of current and former players who shared a statement on their social media platforms calling for change in the game’s global governance.
Speaking ahead of Chelsea’s Champions League match against Real Sociedad, Bronze said: “Collectively there’s so many players who want to make sure that the game’s in a good place for years to come, for decades to come, that the people making the decisions are making the decisions based on the fans and the game itself.
“Football comes first no matter what, no matter who’s in charge, who’s playing, who the fans are, who the teams are, football always comes first.
“I think it’s making sure we realign that now and it just feels like now is a good time for players to speak up. There’s a lot of ex-players, a lot of current players all over the world who are in touch with each other and just want to make a stance. This is our game, we want to protect it, we want to protect it for the fans as well as the players, and I think that’s the key message.”
Meanwhile, the Irish Football Association has joined the associations of England, the Republic of Ireland, Scotland and Wales in withdrawing its support for Infantino.
A spokesperson for the Northern Irish governing body said: “The proposal to sell part of FIFA’s assets to a private equity firm without consultation, represents more than a failure of communication.
“In our view, it raises fundamental questions about strategy, governance and stewardship of our assets.
“We believe the time has come for change.”
