Barring something unimaginable, the fortunes of world football will be dictated by FIFA boss Gianni Infantino until 2031. For sport, this means: no humility, only gigantism – and probably more tournaments in authoritarian regimes.
Gianni Infantino didn’t have good news in his wild pile of slips. Of course, this is always a question of perspective. And in this case it’s the German, the Western European one. The Swiss, he announced at the International Media Center in Doha this Friday, would like to remain at the helm of FIFA until 2031. And there is probably no one who will prevent him from doing so. Next year, when he will begin his second term (more on that below) as the world governing body’s president, there will be no opposition. Infantino has become too powerful and the FIFA system is playing into his hands too much.
211 national associations belong to the umbrella organization of world football. They all have an equal say. So if the DFB decides to refuse to follow Infantino, then that is no more important or less important for the 52-year-old than if mini-states like Nauru, Tuvalu or San Marino tell the boss that they are strangers to his type of leadership, even reject them. There are good and bad arguments for this system. For a man like Infantino, this system is paradise. With a lot of money and big visions, he can unite and secure a gigantic mass as a power base behind him. More than 200 nations follow him blindly, excuse me, greedily.
At a Council meeting, FIFA approved a record budget of eleven billion dollars for the 2023 to 2026 cycle. 9.7 billion dollars are planned as investments in football. What will become of the remaining $1.3 billion? Not clear. You don’t want to think about it any further.
The large associations cannot do anything against this fortress, and they capitulate by not submitting their own candidate in the race. The withdrawal of allegiance is therefore only symbolic politics. The DFB remains in the circle of FIFA and thus part of the greedy machine that is running faster than ever under the leadership of the Swiss. Infantino was not responsible for the “best World Cup ever” – in Qatar. The emirate was chosen ahead of its era, which began in 2016. At that time he took over the business of the resigned Joseph Blatter, who was always accompanied by allegations of corruption and bribery. There was great hope that things would get better after the time of the power player “Sepp”. It got worse.
It’s pretty strange how Infantino, with the approval of his fellow campaigners in the council, quickly undermines the law. Actually, the longest tenure of the FIFA boss is set at twelve years, initiated by Infantino himself in 2016. In 2031 it would be 15 years of Infantino’s reign, maybe he will still reach his compatriot Blatter (almost 18 years FIFA boss). It got worse, it gets worse.
And more embarrassing. Because Infantino makes the world as he likes it. “For me, the World Cup was an incredible success in all areas,” said the head of the world association. Football “united” the world. There wasn’t a single negative incident, it was “unique”. Forget the wild speech before the start of the World Cup. Forget the beer hassle. Forget the “One Love” escalations. The fact that two migrant workers died during the tournament in connection with the World Cup, that Qatari security forces sometimes showed dubious handling of rainbow symbols and solidarity actions for the protest movement in Iran, all of which Infantino left unmentioned.
Infantino, who he has now announced has only been in his first term since 2019, has stripped down all of football’s remaining moral planks and made greed the guiding motive. Or maybe he just perfected this system. How submissively he has offered himself to Qatar in the past few days, how he threw himself like a lion in front of an attacked cub when criticized, that once again revealed his motives: greed and money instead of morality and human rights. Infantino always disguises his behavior behind the term respect. Respect for the organizer. The Swiss like to ignore the fact that they themselves do not raise their voices towards their own population, towards minorities and those who think differently.
The prospect of continuing another nine years under Infantino’s leadership paves a path beyond humility. Giganticism in the most gigantic form beckons. In three years, the Club World Cup will be inflated into a mega project with 32 teams. In four years, the World Cup will be held for the first time with 48 nations, and the format will be reconsidered. Instead of 16 groups with three teams, 12 groups with four teams are pondered over.
In addition, FIFA wants to use the international match window in March every two years for mini-tournaments with teams from different continents. With the FIFA World Series, as Infantino now affectionately calls his child, teams from different parts of the world will compete against each other more often. More games, more marketing, with one goal above all: more money! No consideration for the footballers who have to physically lift this crazy program. No consideration for sustainability, FIFA is happy to fly around the world a few times more often for a little bit of football luck. When in doubt, greenwashing instead of climate protection.
Infantino’s band squeezes everything out of the juicy fruit, regardless of the fact that the consumer’s thirst is finite. But everything happens in the sense of football, that’s how Infantino sees it. And then in 2030 there is still the threat of the major international tournament in Saudi Arabia, another rogue state with an even more catastrophic human rights situation than Qatar. Football is opening up, that’s what the Infantino wants. In doing so, he only opens up the wrong paths. Football is entering terrible times.