The FIFA World Cup's expansion to feature 48 teams "is an absurd plan which will only devalue football's premier competition, says the man widely credited with creating the global cash cow the sport has become," according to Ossian Shine of REUTERS. Patrick Nally, who brokered FIFA's first major sponsorship deal -- with Coca Cola -- ahead of the 1978 World Cup, said that the sports body's decision to inflate the size of the tournament from 32 teams "will devalue it, and ultimately make it less attractive and less lucrative." He said, "They have rushed through this 48-team plan thinking it is going to make them billions more. I think it will make them billions less. To make this a 48-team event to pander to Asian countries ... it is absurd." FIFA President Gianni Infantino said that the move meant more nations would be able to participate, and "many more will have a chance to dream." Nally believes the World Cup "could be revamped by FIFA improving competition and qualification at the Continental Confederation level, to help bring Asian, African and American standards to the level of Europe and South America." He said that "simply inviting more to the party isn't the answer" (REUTERS, 1/11).
SPURRING GROWTH: REUTERS' Amlan Chakraborty reported Japan FA President Kozo Tashima said that FIFA's decision to expand the World Cup to 48 teams "will be a catalyst" to football's growth in countries "hovering on the fringe of the showpiece tournament." Tashima is a member of the FIFA Council. Critics "fear the expansion will lower the overall standard of the tournament" but Tashima cited the example of Japan, which has taken part in the last five World Cups, and said that it would "provide an impetus" for the game's growth globally. Tashima: "Many teams in Asia are also close to being fully prepared to participate. Japan was the same when we first participated in 1998. We had a taste of what football was at a world level and was able to consistently participate in all five World Cups that followed. This contributed greatly to the development of Japanese football" (REUTERS, 1/12).
