Infantino was speaking after FIFA held a
virtual global summit with federations to discuss the project, although there
was no vote on the subject on Monday and he refused to confirm if there would
be one at the next FIFA Congress on March 31.
Football’s global body published findings
from two separate feasibility studies which it claimed showed there would be “a
strong upturn in football’s economic situation” if the World Cup was held as a
biennial tournament rather than the current four-year cycle for the men’s and
women’s competitions.
One study, by market researchers Nielsen,
estimated that approximately $4.4 billion (3.9 billion euros) of additional
revenues would be generated over four years, with income from gate receipts,
media rights and sponsorship increasing from seven billion dollars to $11.4
billion.
To help convince its 211 member federations
— 207 of whom participated in Monday’s summit — FIFA vowed to hand over an
extra $19 million every four years to each one, with the amount the same for
major federations such as Brazil and France as it would be for Andorra or Guam.
Each member would get “around $16 million”
allocated from a “Solidarity Fund” of some $3.5 billion in the first four years
of the reformed calendar, as well as an increase in funding via its FIFA
Forward programme from the current six million dollars to nine million.
However, FIFA did not reveal the
methodology used for the study, at a time when the desire of broadcasters to
keep paying more for rights has been questioned by experts in football finance,
and it offered no details as to the potential repercussions for domestic
leagues or continental tournaments.
Transatlantic Front
In contrast to its own studies, a report
commissioned by European football’s governing body UEFA recently estimated a
shortfall of between 2.5 and three billion euros ($2.8 to 3.4 billion) over
four years for European federations if FIFA adopts its plan.
“We have just finished a feasibility study
of over 700 pages. It is very thorough, so maybe some will change their minds,”
Infantino said about the opposition to the project from Doha, where he gave a
press conference alongside Arsene Wenger, FIFA’s head of global development who
has championed the biennial proposal.
“There is a lot of opposition and there is
as well a lot of voices in favour and FIFA is a global organising body, so we
need to really try to combine all these different points of view.”
Only eight countries have ever won the
men’s World Cup since it was first held in 1930, and there has never been a
winner from outside Europe or South America.
These confederations will provide more than
half the teams for next year’s World Cup in Qatar, which is due to be the last
with 32 teams before the competition is expanded to feature 48 nations from
2026.
UEFA, as well as leading European clubs and
leagues, have all united in opposition to the biennial World Cup plans.
In South America, CONMEBOL rejected the
proposal, and in the meantime it has become a close ally of UEFA’s — last week
it emerged that South America’s 10 nations could join the UEFA Nations League
after 2024.
“I don’t believe we are making enemies. My
role as FIFA president is to try to bring everyone on board,” added Infantino,
who insisted “the prestige of a competition like the World Cup will not be
undermined by it becoming more frequent.”
“I think everyone agrees that the current
situation is not satisfactory, everyone sees the gap is getting bigger and
bigger between a few who have it all, and others who have nothing.”
The plans offer the chance for more
countries from across the globe to take part in a World Cup, and the
Confederation of African Football (CAF) has given its backing — CAF has 54
member federations but only five will qualify for next year’s tournament in Qatar.
-AFP
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