Infantino, more alone in the battle against UEFA: his right-hand man resigns

BarcelonaNew chapter in the battle shaking up the world of football. After Gianni Infantino's proposal to sell part of the World Cup and the Club World Cup, which has met with an unprecedented boycott from UEFA, the FIFA president finds himself a little more alone. Carlos Cordeiro, one of the main advisors to the European football governing body and the president's right-hand man, announced his resignation this Friday after disagreeing with the latest decisions made by the world football's top leader.

"I cannot stand idly by while FIFA considers selling a stake in the World Cup. It is a bad deal for the federations, for football, and for the long-term future of this sport," he criticized forcefully in a statement. Cordeiro also makes it clear that he has had and has nothing to do with Infantino's proposal and that he firmly rejects it.

Infantino's initiative needs the majority support of the 211 member associations that make up FIFA, which seems complicated to achieve with the rejection of UEFA and CONCACAF. "FIFA already has access to extraordinary financial resources. If the member federations consider that additional investment is needed to develop this sport, FIFA already has the financial capacity to provide this support from its current resources," assured the former advisor.

Cordeiro claims it makes "little sense" to sell a permanent stake in the World Cup – "football's most valuable asset" – for "4.2 billion dollars". In his opinion, "it means mortgaging the future of football without any convincing justification": "This is not a responsible way to determine the future of world football. FIFA's responsibility is not to maximize commercial profits at any cost, but to protect and strengthen football for future generations. When these principles come into conflict, football must come first", he concluded in the letter in which he submitted his resignation with "immediate effect".

Former President of the United States Soccer Federation between 2018 and 2020, Cordeiro joined FIFA in 2021, where he became one of Infantino's trusted individuals and global strategy advisor. His role has been key in the organization of the last World Cup, which was held in the summer in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. He also worked at Goldman Sachs.

FIFA accelerates the 64-team World Cup

In parallel, Infantino is sticking to his guns and this Friday it also became known that FIFA is accelerating the deadlines to move from a World Cup of 48 to 64 teams for 2030, scheduled to be held in Spain, Portugal and Morocco. The highest body of world football has already opened a tender to research companies to evaluate the economic benefits that this expansion would have, as reported by The Guardian.

The winning company of the tender will be determined next August 14 and FIFA will demand the report before September 11. With these deadlines, the final decision on the future of the World Cup could be made before the end of 2026, according to the English newspaper.

The research report aims to analyze the potential support for the expansion proposal and draw conclusions about "player welfare, product quality, and the international calendar", explains The Guardian. In addition, the outlet adds that the companies in question have been asked to identify "the estimated revenues from ticketing, sponsorship, and media rights that would be generated in total and specifically for the 64-team format". It should be remembered that in this last World Cup, the number of teams already went from 32 to 48.