March 16, (THEWILL) – Gianni Infantino has defended FIFA’s expansion of the World Cup and new Club World Cup proposal, stating that “we need way more and not less competitions, we want football to develop worldwide.”
As THEWILL previously reported, FIFA recently confirmed plans to expand the 2026 World Cup to 48 teams split into 12 groups of four, and also proposed an expanded Club World Cup containing 32 teams. Infantino made his defence of these proposals at the FIFA Congress in Rwanda where he was re-elected as FIFA president on Thursday.
During the Congress, Infantino also discussed the possibility of organising a women’s Club World Cup and a FIFA World Series every two years in March. He noted that teams would be free from playing qualifiers during that time. Furthermore, he pointed to the English football calendar as well as the Super Cup tournaments in Italian and Spanish football, indicating that there is less criticism of others from the media than there is of FIFA.
Infantino addressed previous controversial comments he had made including accusations of reporters being racist for criticising Qatar as the host country for the World Cup. He stated that he used the word “racist” to describe those who were qualifying fans with different skin color to fans who were cheering for European teams, and he stands by that.
Moreover, he denied making an association with the Rwandan genocide in his opening remarks and clarified that he intended to express how inspiring the country is for so many people.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
