FIFA dangles $25m carrot for members’ buy-in on biennial World Cups
In a pitch to more than 200 member countries Monday, FIFA has promised millions of dollars to every federation from the $4.4 billion in extra revenue that consultants hired by FIFA advised could be earned by hosting the tournaments biennially. Each of the 211 FIFA members was told they could get up to $25 million instead of the basic $6 million they now get during a four-year World Cup commercial cycle currently worth around $7 billion to soccer’s governing body.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino during the meeting described the 700-page document prepared by the consultant as “certainly a new basis for discussion” hoping it will revive plans to overhaul national-team soccer that were stalled since September by resistance to its key aim.
“We have presented today a situation where we can come out with a solution that actually benefits everyone without harming anyone,” Infantino said at a news conference after hosting a two and half hour online meeting in Doha, Qatar.
The Doha meeting which was intended to lead to a vote on scheduling World Cups every two years for men and women could not go as planned as members from Europe and South America were vehement in their opposition of biennial tournaments threatening boycotts of the biennial World Cup. The meeting was therefore redirected towards the debate, and a launch for FIFA’s hefty feasibility study.
FIFA however would not give up on its aims to drive soccer development and close the gap on European and South American dominance by giving more teams from other regions more chances to play at World Cups.
“Everyone sees that the gap is getting bigger and bigger between a few who have it all and others who have nothing,” said Infantino, a former long-time UEFA official. “We cannot say to the rest of the world – it’s great, football is global, give us your money and watch us on TV.”
“We will take the time that it takes,” Infantino said. “It’s not about a precise date, it’s about getting the right decisions for football.”
FIFA chief of global football development Arsene Wenger, the former manager of English club Arsenal, has modified one aspect of the plan. National teams could also play in March instead of just June and October as first proposed.
Wenger suggested, without naming UEFA or CONMEBOL, that FIFA’s opponents were scared of losing control of their own continental competitions.
“We have to get over this fear,” Wenger said, adding “what I regret is that 90% of this opposition is emotion and not facts and not analysis.”
Meanwhile, UEFA has commissioned another study with conclusion different from FIFA’s. UEFA-funded research from Oliver & Ohlbaum claimed financial damage from the proposed overhaul could cost European soccer billions of euros (dollars).
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