FIFA president Gianni Infantino wants the World Cup to be held every three years after what be believes has been a ‘game-changer’ in Qatar.
Speaking ahead of the final, which proved to be quite the spectacle, Infantino claimed the 2022 edition had been “the best World Cup ever”.
“The first item I want to highlight and stress of course is the praise – the unanimous praise – of the Fifa Council for this World Cup, for the unique cohesive power that this World Cup has shown,” he said.
“The thanks to everyone who was involved, to, of course, Qatar, all the volunteers who work, all of your, everyone who has contributed to make this World Cup the best World Cup ever.”
The tournament is reported to have generated record revenues of £6.2bn, an increase of £840m on the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
And The Daily Mail report that the success of Qatar has convinced Infantino that staging the World Cup in the middle of the European winter has proved to be a ‘game-changer’.
Infantino, who last week announced that an expanded Club World Cup will take place in 2025 despite the lack of backing from players, clubs and confederations, now reportedly wants the World Cup to be held every three years.
But the president looks set to face significant resistance from UEFA and the South American confederation, CONMEBOL, who combined to defeat a proposal to stage the event every two years that had been championed by FIFA mouthpiece Arsene Wenger.
Former Germany international Philipp Lahm, who now works for the German Football Association (DFB), recently slammed Infantino for what he sees as negligent leadership.
“FIFA continued to lose credibility with the top representative. One increasingly gets the impression that Gianni Infantino is not looking for the best solution in terms of football and that he simply does not have integrity,” he wrote in his column for RND .
“Infantino doesn’t give the impression that he wants to change anything about it. He takes advantage of the game. That is the problem of FIFA, a European-based institution, not football. And that can only be changed by finally relying on a reasonable, transparent award procedure in the future.”
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