From his long political career, Gianni Infantino has drawn a skill that borders on tightrope walking. King of dodging, the president of the International Football Federation (FIFA) is keen to move forward in a mask to endorse the great project of his mandate: the establishment of a World Cup organized every two years for men’s teams and women, with the overhaul of the international calendar.
Monday, December 20, at the end of a “world summit”, by videoconference, with 207 of the 211 national federations of FIFA, Mr. Infantino did not give a date regarding the holding of a vote of the congress of the body to ratify the reform. But he has clearly taken a further step towards this electoral deadline.
Evasive about the schedule, the world football leader did not ” abandoned the idea »To organize a vote at the next FIFA congress, in March 2022, in Doha (Qatar). If he undertakes to continue negotiations with the world of football ” in january and february », Italo-Switzerland does not rule out the possibility of convening an extraordinary congress before March on the question.
” Everything is open, everything is flexible, did he declare. It is not a question of date, but of the right decision. It may take time, but it can also go faster. ” Before counting his supporters: “If I went to a vote tomorrow, I think a majority would vote for (the project). We continue to dialogue and see the reactions. “
While the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and Conmebol (Confederation of South America) are categorically opposed to the biennial World Cup project, Gianni Infantino has tried to consolidate his electoral base by unveiling two studies “Independent On the economic benefits expected from the reform.
By virtue of these ” feasibility studies “, Led by the firms Nielsen and OpenEconomics, FIFA affirms that the establishment of a biennial World Cup” would generate combined additional income of $ 4.4 billion [3,9 milliards d’euros] from the first four-year cycle “.
“The gap is getting too big, we have to close the gap”
” These additional revenues would make it possible to increase the solidarity financing to potentially 25 million dollars. (compared to 6 million currently) en average per FIFA member national federation over the first four-year cycle “, Develops the instance, which counts on” an increase in gross domestic product of nearly $ 180 billion and the creation of two million full-time jobs over a period of sixteen years ”If the reform was ratified. And this, while FIFA voted, in 2017, to enlarge the World Cup from 32 to 48 teams from the 2026 edition.
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