Infantino faces dissent with European football leaders

If Gianni Infantino questioned how his world football rule was broken, he informed the FIFA president in an hour-long video call with the leaders of the European federations.

In an attempt to convince UEFA members to back their plans for the biennial World Cup, Infantino has been widely criticized. The Associated Press.

“We trusted you to create an organization that transcends divisions and brings unity,” Răzvan Burleanu, president of the Romanian Football Federation on FIFA Council, told Infantino.

Fernando Gomes, president of the Portuguese federation, reminded Infantino that it was Europe that helped him rise so unexpectedly from the post of UEFA general secretary in 2016 to the FIFA presidency. Now, Gomes said, Infantino was ignoring Europe’s concerns. damage to the game that would result in changes planned in the football calendar.

‘Very worried’

Italian FA president Gabriele Gravina told Infantino he was “very concerned” about the plans and said they are against Serie A coaches and players. “Football doesn’t need more tension, but it needs a journey that offers greater stability and improved sustainability,” Gravina said.

READ ALSO – FIFA collects World Cup positions every two years without a vote in December

FIFA’s proposal envisages an off-season tournament, not a four-year edition of the World Cup and European Championships. Rather than having match windows for the men’s international matches in September, October, November and March, the plan is to hold a one-month match block for the tournament qualifiers in October and November.

“We don’t see any benefit,” Swiss FA President Dominique Blanc told Infantino.

The AP he announced on Tuesday that more than a dozen European nations had told UEFA that they would consider leaving FIFA at the two-year World Cup. Six of the northern nations appear to be bent on that. “If the majority of FIFA decides to accept the two-year World Cup proposal,” Finnish federation president Ari Lahti told Infantino, “Northern football associations will have to look at more actions and scenarios closer to our core values ​​than today’s FIFA means.”

‘Serious consequences’

UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin has already suggested that Europe could boycott the World Cup if Infantino puts an end to the current four-year format. “I seriously urge you and FIFA not to push for a vote, as this could have dire consequences for football,” Ceferin told Infantino.

“I don’t think it would make sense to go to the polls on an issue like this,” Ceferin said. “Not only because it will have serious consequences for us, but also because actors like clubs and leagues do not have the right to vote and because this idea is detrimental to their existence.”

READ ALSO – FIFA aims to hold a draw for the World Cup on 1 April

Perhaps the first indication that Infantino could largely back down from the project he got was to get Arsene Wenger, Arsene Wenger, the former Arsenal manager, to present the heads of FIFA’s global football development. “We will not move forward to the extent that I am concerned with any proposals that would harm anyone,” Infantino said.

The following day, Wednesday, was a testament to the success of UEFA’s resistance when Infantino announced that only a summit of 211 FIFA member nations would hold an additional congress to formally vote on the biennial World Cup for men and women.

In Tuesday’s UEFA call-up, no country spoke out in favor of the plans. The Spanish federation also spoke to study the Infantino project. They also mentioned the impact that opponents can have on the welfare of players more often and the damage that more competition from men can have on the growing profile of women’s play.

Ian Maxwell, director of the Scottish Football Association, highlighted the liveliness of the sport – home club matches – from a FIFA perspective. Maxwell also asked Infantino to consider “the impact it can have on patronage and the impact it can have on audience attendance with a monthly international window.”

It seemed that Infantino was so nervous that he ended up giving credibility to a suggestion that would weaken the revolution he was defending. Tiago Craveiro, the general secretary of the Portuguese federation, proposed that FIFA consider not allowing teams to compete in successive editions if the two-year World Cup progresses.

“I’m welcome to say Thiago’s idea is, well, that we need more participation and maybe there’s a way to do that by doing two World Cups, but not involving the same teams,” Infantino said. “I do not know. It’s something that technicians will look at, but it’s definitely something we need to look at. ”

The FIFA president rarely suffers from such a long disagreement in front of such a large audience. But Infantino said the reshuffle of world football was necessary to look after the future of the sport. “I also think that the enemy of football is not the World Cup or not FIFA, but that there are other activities that young boys and girls are currently pursuing,” Infantino said in his closing remarks.

“And we need to see how together and together we can bring them to an interest in football. And we want to do all this together, as far as I’m concerned, as we’ve always done in recent years. “

Infantino did not specify what these “other activities” were.