Expand World Cup to 40 teams, says Fifa candidate

Uefa general secretary Gianni Infantino, is standing for the Fifa presidency following the suspension of Michel Platini, right. Pictures: AFP/Getty Images

Infantino, who is the face of Champions League draws as Uefa’s general secretary, discussed his first plans to transform Fifa in an interview with the Associated Press after making a surprising late decision to enter the election.

European football scrambled to find a candidate as a substitute for Infantino’s boss, Michel Platini, after the Uefa president was provisionally suspended by Fifa.

Platini is at risk of a long ban once the ethics probe into a 2011 payment from Fifa has been completed, which would make him ineligible for the February 26 election to replace suspended president Sepp Blatter.

Infantino has worked in Platini’s shadow, implementing the president’s vision from Financial Fair Play for clubs to expanding the European Championship from 16 to 24 teams starting with next year’s tournament. If Infantino gets his way, the World Cup also could have to find space for an additional eight teams.

That could be good new for Scotland, who have not qualifed for the World Cup final since 1998.

“I believe in expanding the World Cup based on the experience we had in Europe with the Euros,” Infantino said. “Look at qualifiers now where some teams who have never qualified did and some teams which have always qualified didn’t make it.

“So it created a completely new dynamic in the qualification. It created new enthusiasm. If you are serious about developing football it must involve more associations in the best football event in the world: The World Cup.”

It would be too soon to swell to 40 teams in Russia in 2018 given that qualifying has already started and it could be problematic for Qatar since the plan is to squeeze the 64 games into 28 days to cope with staging the tournament in November-December 2022 rather than the traditional June-July slot.

But the proposal could help Infantino collect votes from some of the smaller Fifa members outside Europe.

“I don’t have a European vision,” he said. “I have a vision for football.”

The 45-year-old Infantino, a lawyer who has been Uefa’s general secretary since 2009, was endorsed by the organisation’s executive committee to stand for Fifa president only hours before the candidate deadline on October 26.