FIFA VP Victor Montagliani said that the decision to award the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar "may be the best thing" for football, according to the BBC. Since the tournaments were awarded in Dec. '10, "widespread corruption has been exposed in the global game." Montagliani: "I think that was the tipping point for things to happen. If Russia and Qatar had not got these World Cups, would we be in this situation now with an opportunity to clean the game? If England and the U.S. had got the World Cup, maybe we would've had status quo. Maybe the best thing that happened in football was Russia and Qatar" (
BBC, 10/5).
CHANGES COMING: The London GUARDIAN reported Montagliani, a Canadian, was elected CONCACAF president this year, "following the disgraced Jeffrey Webb as leader of North American, Central American and Caribbean football." Montagliani is "also an ally" of FIFA President Gianni Infantino, who has raised the prospect of expanding the World Cup from 32 teams to 40 -- and now 48. Montagliani: "I think it’s obvious it’s not going to stay at 32 for 2026. I think it’s going to change. If we listened to traditionalists we’d still have a 16-team World Cup. And there is a balance. You don’t want 211 countries in a World Cup either. But the reality is that the World Cup is such a strong brand and inspires a lot of hope and inspiration in countries. For them just to dream about it, never mind get a piece of it, provides a lot of groundswell in those countries to promote the game" (GUARDIAN, 10/5).
