FIFA President Gianni Infantino has decided to abandon plans for further increasing the scale of World Cups for both national teams and clubs.
According to the British newspaper The Times, this decision was made amid growing pressure on the FIFA chief following criticism of his initiatives aimed at commercializing tournament rights.
The newspaper reports that if re-elected as FIFA president, Infantino will no longer insist on increasing the number of teams participating in the World Cup.
Previously, in August, The Times reported that the FIFA president supported the proposal from the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) to expand the 2030 World Cup to 64 national teams. According to the newspaper, this initiative could help Infantino gain support from a larger number of national football associations before the presidential elections.
Additional criticism arose due to plans to create the FIFA Forward Enterprise company, which was supposed to manage the commercial rights for major men's and women's FIFA tournaments. FIFA claimed that this scheme could generate $4.2 billion and increase revenue for its member associations.
However, this proposal faced opposition from several international football organizations, including UEFA, CONCACAF, the Asian Football Confederation, and CONMEBOL.
After Infantino withdrew the project, UEFA stated a loss of confidence in the FIFA president. According to The Telegraph, the European governing body is considering a vote of no confidence against him if he does not voluntarily step down.
The next FIFA presidential elections are scheduled for March 2027 in Morocco. Infantino took the helm of the organization in February 2016 and has since been re-elected twice without objection.
