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

FIFA’s efforts to gain approval for the biennial World Cup in December came to a halt on Wednesday, one day after its president joined the fierce resistance of European football leaders.

Gianni Infantino, instead, announced that FIFA would hold a remote “global summit” on December 20 to discuss the future of international football and “try to reach a consensus”. It was not uncommon for Infantino to organize an additional congress of 211 members of the federation who could formally vote for the biennial World Cup, which has been invested by him and FIFA’s political capital.

“It’s really important to listen to all the legitimate questions … and see how we can adapt the proposals that have been made,” Infantino told a news conference after chairing a meeting of FIFA’s governing council.

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Infantino’s comment on “what other types of events we can create” may have reached the breadth of agreement that the organization of the additional World Cup has not reached. UEFA European football’s persistent opposition – including threats to boycott the upcoming World Cup and covered warnings from some of its members to leave FIFA – was joined by a strange COI statement last weekend specifically criticizing an Olympic sport.

“Legal criticism”

The International Olympic Committee said FIFA was looking for revenue while it included other sports on the sports calendar, which would turn off women’s play by promoting men’s football and putting extra strain on the well-being of athletes.

“We’ve received some legitimate criticism,” Infantino admitted. “When you’re in the middle of it all, it’s like a referee in an incident that’s happening in a game. I call on everyone to be calm and rational, ”he said.

Infantino said that it is important for FIFA to hold an annual World Cup for men or women to attract young fans, allow them to qualify for more countries and reduce their gap with European and South American dominance to fund global development.

UEFA and the South American football organization CONMEBOL have opposed the plans. They mentioned the risk of overloading players and upsetting the balance of the global football calendar, including internal leagues and successful international competitions between national teams and clubs.

“Everyone has taken Europe’s position into account,” said Infantino, who had a hot network meeting on Tuesday with 55 members of UEFA and its federations. The Europeans made it clear that the biennial World Cup was unacceptable, and a day later Infantino seemed to give up, stressing that FIFA should try to reach a consensus.

“We’ll see what that consensus will be like,” he said. “Everything is open to me. Maybe we’ll take one step forward and take another step back. ‘