Former FIFA President Sepp Blatter "has not always talked favourably about his successor but has surprisingly come out in partial support of Gianni Infantino's decision to expand the World Cup to 48 teams," according to Andrew Warshaw of INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL. Blatter, currently banned for six years over a "disloyal payment" made to former UEFA President Michel Platini in '98 which did not "come to light" until 13 years later, said that "World Cup expansion may not be a bad thing." Blatter added, "I think he [Infantino] now has many footballers at his side as consultants and they will now try to make the game more attractive. Let us see if this can be the case. At least he went to a 48-team World Cup without any opposition. Everybody, all media said it was not possible. He did it, and this is a success for him in his dealing with football matters. Now, to say if it is good or not good, the future will show." However, Blatter is "strongly opposed" to proposals put forward last month by FIFA Technical Dir Marco van Basten to "revolutionise the way the game is played, not least scrapping the offside rule." Blatter: "If you take away the offside of football then you take away the essence of this game [football]" (INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL, 2/2).
