BUOYED by the support of smaller nations, Fifa may well get their own way and later in this decade there will be a World Cup every two years.
Enticing? Sounds to me more like greed with a touch of madness.
The man behind it is Arsene Wenger, who left Arsenal in 2018 and is now Fifa’s Chief of Global Football Development.
It was said Wenger’s thoughts outside the box became rather stale at the Emirates, although in hindsight I’m not sure Arsenal supporters now see it that way.
But with the whole football planet his responsibility he has managed to put Europe, and Uefa in particular, on the defensive.
The continent’s clubs are horrified by his attack on the football calendar.
They believe, as I do, that a biennial World Cup is no more than a bid for Europe’s riches.
Fifa have made several previous attempts to undermine Uefa but none of them close to this.
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They tried with the Club World Cup and there were suspicions the world body was supportive of the crushed European Super League.
Uefa responded by filling some of the shrinking summer space with their new Nations League.
Wenger knew all too well the calendar of competitions was fuller than a call girl’s diary and proposed an extra World Cup to kill off a few of them — football competitions, that is, not call girls.
The Frenchman is acquainted with money matters. It’s said he was the one that helped balance the books during the rebuilding of the old Highbury.
So, I wonder if President Gianni Infantino and his Fifa committee were behind the assault on their rivals’ monopoly of three summers out of four — which produces mountains of TV money — rather than Wenger himself.
Aleksander Ceferin, holed up in Nyon, Switzerland, would like to shoot down Arsene’s ambitions.
The Uefa president’s problem is that Infantino has the ammunition.
Simply, Fifa is highly popular with delegates from other nations, from Tuvalu to Tajikistan.
No surprise. Each country, no matter how big or small, has one vote in Congress.
Bear in mind, that delegates at World Cups and Fifa events are treated like kings — the finest hotels, big cars, the best seats, no wonder so many of them know exactly who butters their bread. And how to vote.
Uefa have one defence. Their clubs generate all the money.
When it comes down to it, though, they are close to powerless.
I doubt there was a Uefa country that voted for the 2022 finals to go to Qatar. What’s more, it is to be held in October and November.
Appeals are being made — once every four years provides gloss and rarity, there’s too much football already, players will be exhausted and risk injury, clubs will continue to pay wages that are surely a responsibility of the federations.
Infantino promises corruption has been eliminated. I’d like to believe in fairies, too.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
