Soccer
FIFA wants World Cup expansion assessment as pressure on Gianni Infantino mounts
FIFA is seeking an independent agency to assess the expansion of the men’s World Cup to 64 teams, according to documents seen by the Press Association.
FIFA’s president, Gianni Infantino, is under increasing pressure amid mounting opposition to plans to seek private investment in a company which would run the World Cup, with three confederations having rejected it and his senior adviser having quit over it.
One of the key concerns around the plan was the potential for private investors to seek ever bigger, ever more frequent tournaments to maximise returns.
Now PA has seen documents in which FIFA expresses its wish to appoint an independent agency to assess an expansion to 64 teams from the current 48, starting with the next finals in 2030.
The timeline on the documents said FIFA would receive agency proposals by August 7, with a FIFA decision on August 14. Delivery of analysis by the agency is then scheduled for September 11.
FIFA has been approached for comment.
FIFA wants the agency it appoints to “test market appetite and system-wide consequences of this movement, including commercial spaces and risk of saturation”.
The FIFA brief adds: “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?”
FIFA’s brief said the final judgement “should establish whether the incremental value generated by expansion would outweigh the potential dilution and wider costs imposed on the football ecosystem”.
FIFA’s deadline for the delivery of the analysis on the impact of expansion is eight days prior to the deadline given to national associations to give their approval to plans to create FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) which would run commercial and operational aspects of all its tournaments including the men’s and women’s World Cups.
The most controversial aspect of FFE was the proposal to sell minority stakes in it to private investors. Thrive Eternal – a company founded by Joshua Kushner, brother of the United States President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, is earmarked to lead the investor group, FIFA has said.
Those plans have been rejected by UEFA – which also intends to boycott FIFA competitions until the project is scrapped – along with the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and the confederation for North America, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF).
Infantino’s senior adviser, Carlos Cordeiro, also announced his resignation on Friday morning, with the investment banker calling the FFE proposal “a bad deal for football”.
The threat of bigger and more frequent tournaments was highlighted as a key concern for UEFA if private equity had an influence over their running.
“The moment external investors acquire ownership interests in FIFA competitions, football changes forever,” UEFA said.
“Commercial return becomes a permanent obligation. Investor expectations become a daily pressure. From that moment onwards, every decision on the international calendar, every decision on competition formats and every decision shaping the future of football is no longer driven by what best serves the game, but by what best serves shareholders.”
AFC’s statement was especially damning for Infantino, calling for an “urgent review” of its governance framework and pointing out: “This is not the first occasion where major stakeholders have been confronted with significant initiatives after the direction of travel appears to have already been determined.”
The Press Association is seeking to ascertain whether confederations were aware of the World Cup expansion brief, which is it believed was sent to agencies on Thursday.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham said on Friday Infantino was “the wrong man to lead the organisation” and described the FFE proposal as “an outrageous suggestion”.
The Czech federation, which according to media reports earlier this week had indicated its support for the FFE proposal, held an extraordinary meeting of its executive committee on Friday, passing a resolution to reject it and endorsing the UEFA statement issued on Thursday.
