FIFA boss says federations back expanded WC

Football federations are “overwhelmingly in favour” of expanding the existing 32-nation World Cup, FIFA President Gianni Infantino said yesterday.
The global football federation boss wants to increase the number of teams playing in the World Cup final tournament to 48, arguing that it can be done in the same time frame as the current tournament.
“We have to be more inclusive,” Infantino said at a sports conference in Dubai, adding that a 48-team tournament was the most financially appealing.
Infantino is proposing a 48-team format with an initial round of 16 groups of three teams.
The top two teams of each group would qualify for a round of 32 knockout stage, then round of 16, quarter finals, semi-finals and final.
There would be little to no impact on players under the proposed format with the winning team still playing seven games in 32 days as they do in the current 32-team World Cup, the FIFA boss argued.
A total of 80 games would be played compared with the current 64 games.
When he was elected in February, Infantino had promised to expand the tournament from the 32 teams to 40.
CONCACAF President Victor Montagliani told Reuters he supported the expansion plans but said he would like to see the proportional number of places awarded to each federation to remain the same as today.
CONCACAF governs football in North and Central America and the Caribbean.
On Tuesday, Italian and Portuguese football federation presidents Carlo Tavecchio and Fernando Gomes said at the conference they were in favour of the proposal.
“We support the idea in order to increase the number of the teams pending of course the conditions and the formula for the competitions,” Gomes said.
Any changes to the structure of the World Cup, however, are unlikely to be made until the 2026 World Cup, which is yet to be awarded.
The last time the number of teams competing in the World Cup increased was in 1998 when it went from 24 to 32.
The FIFA Council, made of up members of the global federations, is to discuss the expansion in January.
Infantino also said he was hopeful video technology would be introduced in time for the 2018 World Cup in Russia following the use of the video assistant referee system at the Club World Cup in Japan.
The tests in Japan were in “the right direction,” he said. “Even though there is still a bit of fine tuning to be made, the tests have been very, very positive.”

‘Not a dictator’
Infantino also said that he will not be a “dictator” in discussions over his proposal to expand the World Cup finals from 32 to 48 teams.
“I strongly believe in that, but obviously I’m not a dictator,” Infantino told the closing session of the Dubai International Sports Conference.
“This is something that needs to be discussed. When discussed with the associations in the summits they were overwhelmingly in favour, but more discussions will have to take place,” he said.
Infantino’s proposal for a 48-team World Cup in 2026, featuring 16 groups of three, will be submitted to the FIFA Council next month.
A 40-team World Cup is also on the table.
Infantino said that expansion means “inclusion” in the “biggest social and sporting event.”
He said failure to qualify for the finals strongly affects nations, with coaches being sacked and clubs and players criticised.
If they qualify “the whole country lives and breathes football. Everyone gets interested,” he added.
The European Club Association, the powerful body representing Europe’s top clubs, told Infantino earlier this month that it opposes a bigger World Cup, saying leading players were already under too much strain.