FIFA President Gianni Infantino said that football federations are "overwhelmingly in favor" of expanding the existing 32-nation World Cup, according to Alexander Cornwell of REUTERS. Infantino wants to increase the number of teams playing in the World Cup final tournament to 48, "arguing that it can be done in the same time frame as the current tournament." He said, "We have to be more inclusive." Infantino added that a 48-team tournament was "the most financially appealing." There would be "little to no impact on players under the proposed format with the winning team still playing seven games in 32 days as they do in the current 32-team World Cup, the FIFA boss argued." A total of 80 games would be played compared with the current 64 games. CONCACAF President Victor Montagliani said that he supported the expansion plans but said he "would like to see the proportional number of places awarded to each federation to remain the same as today." Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) President Fernando Gomes said that his organization was "in favor of the proposal." Gomes: "We support the idea in order to increase the number of the teams pending of course the conditions and the formula for the competitions." Any changes to the structure of the World Cup, however, "are unlikely to be made until the 2026 World Cup, which is yet to be awarded" (REUTERS, 12/28). The BBC reported the European Club Association, which represents the region's leading clubs, "has rejected calls for the World Cup to be expanded." Infantino also said that experiments around video technology in refereeing at the recent Club World Cup had been "very positive" and that he "hoped the system would be used at the 2018 World Cup in Russia" (BBC, 12/28).
TAVECCHIO ON BOARD: Italian Football Federation (FIGC) President Carlo Tavecchio is in favor of the World Cup expanding to 48 teams. He said, "A 48-team World Cup? We have also opened the debate in our country. Not all opinions are unanimous, but personally I am in agreement. Roughly that would mean a quarter of FIFA’s members [at the World Cup]. We [Italy] are trying to qualify and we really hope to do it. If we don’t, it would be a problem" (FOOTBALL ITALIA, 12/27).
