FIFA president Gianni Infantino yesterday praised the impact of expanded tournaments in the development of soccer around the world in a video message to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Congress.
Speaking from the US, host of this year’s FIFA Club World Cup — which features 32 teams in June and July instead of the previous seven — Infantino addressed the 46 member associations gathered in Kuala Lumpur.
“Opportunities to face opponents from different continents don’t come along too often and that is something that we have been trying to change at FIFA,” said Infantino, who has pushed for bigger and new tournaments since taking his position in 2016 in a bid to generate more revenue for the organization’s 211 member associations.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Asia has four representatives at the Club World Cup: Al-Ain of the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia’s Al-Hilal, Ulsan HD of South Korea and Japan’s Urawa Reds.
“In total, players from more nations will represent their respective countries at this tournament than at all of the FIFA World Cups combined since 1930,” Infantino added. “It is further proof in our desire to make football truly global.”
While there has been some criticism of expanded tournaments in Europe because of the increased demands placed on players, AFC president Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa said that Infantino had Asia’s support.
“This is a competition that we have supported as a confederation and a competitive opportunity which our members, and their clubs, have wanted,” he said.
The US is also cohost of next year’s FIFA World Cup along with Mexico and Canada in the first tournament to feature 48 national teams, an increase from 32 in 2022.
“Some teams will break new ground in reaching that competition as a result, not only of the move to 48 teams with eight or even nine Asian teams now being able to qualify, but also a product of the tireless work being done by you all,” Infantino said.
Infantino did not mention Thursday’s proposal by Alejandro Dominguez, the president of South American soccer’s ruling body CONMEBOL, that the 2030 World Cup, which is to be hosted by six nations, feature 64 teams to mark the centennial celebration of the tournament.
Last month, FIFA said that it would look into the South American proposal when it was first broached by a Uruguayan official.
Uruguay hosted the first World Cup in 1930.
The 1930 World Cup, won by hosts Uruguay, featured 13 teams who did not have to pre-qualify — seven from South America, four from Europe and two from North America.
Many European teams did not participate because of the difficulty of traveling to South America during the Great Depression.
Japanese badminton star Chiharu Shida on Tuesday told Chinese fans to “stop stalking” her, adding that she was “very scared” by the unwanted attention. Shida, who won women’s doubles bronze at the Paris Olympics last year, has a strong following in China partly because of her engagement with the local culture. The 27-year-old, currently competing at the Badminton Asia Championships in Ningbo, China, has been dubbed the “Badminton Goddess” by fans and media. She hit out at some supporters on Tuesday, accusing them in an Instagram post of taking their fandom too far. “Every time we compete in China we always experience the harm
Two people died on Thursday after fans and police clashed outside the Estadio Monumental in Santiago ahead of a game in South America’s Copa Libertadores, Chilean authorities said. The fatalities happened shortly before the match between Chile’s Colo-Colo and Brazilian club Fortaleza, when police blocked about 100 fans when they attempted to enter the stadium. There were conflicting accounts of how the fatalities occurred, with local media reporting that one of the dead was a 13-year-old boy. The other victim was an 18-year-old woman, according to a relative at the hospital where she was treated. The fans died after being caught underneath a
Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) have shown the team do not need star power to win trophies and with the French Ligue 1 title won with six games to spare, the French champions would look to finish the season without losing, manager Luis Enrique said on Saturday. A 1-0 victory over Angers SCO at the Parc des Princes helped PSG win their fourth straight Ligue 1 title and a record-extending 13th overall. PSG can still break Nantes’ 30-year-old record of 32 games unbeaten. Although Nantes lost one game en route to the title, no French club has ever gone an entire league
A potential European league could be a gold mine for the NBA as the top-flight North American league looks to muscle its way into a deep pool of talent across the Atlantic Ocean. The NBA is exploring the launch of a European league with world basketball governing body FIBA as a partner, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said last week, with an eye toward a 16-team format made up of 12 permanent clubs and four qualifiers. The continent’s longstanding Euroleague quickly signaled its readiness to enter into talks with the NBA, even as it has balked at the idea of another league in
RSS