Gianni Infantino on the World Cup's Biggest Changes, Record Revenues and What's Next for FIFA

Darum geht’s

• Gianni Infantino defends the expanded 48-team World Cup, calling it a «tremendous success» and saying FIFA will discuss a possible further expansion to 64 teams.
• The FIFA President insists hydration breaks are about fairness, not money, and says FIFA does not earn «a single cent» from them.
• Infantino says FIFA’s record revenues will be reinvested into football and reveals he is in almost daily contact with Donald Trump.

Zusammenfassung erstellt mit

Gianni Infantino, thank you for taking the time to speak with us. What has been the highlight of the past few weeks for you?

Infantino: Everything! Every single match has been extraordinary – not only on the pitch but off it as well. We’ve seen packed stadiums, vibrant fan festivals, from New York and Boston to Miami, Vancouver and Mexico. Entire cities have come alive, and everything has been peaceful and joyful. It’s been fantastic.

How do you manage to attend virtually every match?

There are actually five of us who all look exactly the same... (laughs). No, seriously, I usually attend one or two matches a day. It’s important for me to see as many teams as possible and to visit every host city. The people in those cities put in an enormous amount of work to stage World Cup matches. It’s also about thanking the mayors, the local authorities, and the police, and showing respect to the teams. That’s why I want to be present at as many matches as I can.

Doesn’t all that travelling take its toll? What about your work-life balance?

Not at all. When you have the privilege of watching football of this quality – football you rarely get to see – you simply don’t get tired. It’s impossible.

The FIFA «hydration breaks» don't generate any additional revenue for FIFA. How did the idea come about?

It’s certainly a topic that has sparked plenty of debate. We don’t want to get everything right all the time, so every now and then we give people something new to complain about... (laughs). But seriously, last year at the Club World Cup in the United States we introduced cooling breaks when temperatures were particularly high. Around 60 percent of the matches had them, while 40 percent didn’t because the weather wasn’t hot enough.

That led to complaints because not every team was playing under the same conditions. Whether it’s two or three degrees warmer or cooler, you can’t give one coach the opportunity to intervene during a break while another coach doesn’t get that same opportunity.

FIFA has introduced cooling breaks for every match at the World Cup.

AP

So it was primarily about sporting fairness?

Exactly. We wanted to ensure equal treatment, regardless of whether it was hot, warm or simply milder. The World Cup lasts 39 days, and the finalists play eight matches. That’s an enormous physical challenge. No team should be able to argue that they had less recovery time in a quarter-final than someone else.

People often say FIFA does everything for money. First of all, every dollar FIFA earns is reinvested into football development. Secondly, in this particular case, that simply isn’t true. The sponsorship and broadcast agreements were signed before the tournament began. FIFA doesn’t earn a single cent from hydration breaks.

The broadcasters probably do.

Perhaps broadcasters make a little more because they can show commercials – I don't know. But FIFA certainly doesn't.

There’s another point worth making. During the UEFA Champions League final between Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain in Budapest, played at 6 p.m. in temperatures of around 20 or 21 degrees Celsius, there were also two hydration breaks – and nobody said anything. Suddenly, at the World Cup, it becomes a talking point.

My feeling is that these elite players actually benefit from a three-minute break. They come back with fresh energy. We’ve witnessed incredible football, especially during the final 20 minutes of matches. There’s no significant loss of playing time, and the players keep pushing right until the final whistle.

Refereeing has also changed, with new technology and a strong emphasis on restarting play quickly. Are you satisfied with how that has worked?

One hundred percent. We’ve virtually eliminated deliberate time-wasting. Before this World Cup, players would often go down after the slightest contact as though they had been struck by lightning. Now, if they require treatment on the pitch, they have to leave the field for a full minute afterwards. As a result, you hardly see those situations anymore.

Ticket prices were heavily criticized before the tournament. Yet almost every match has sold out. Do you feel vindicated?

The stadiums are full. Our occupancy rate is 99.7 percent, and by the end of the tournament it will probably reach 99.9 percent. We always strive for perfection, even though perfection doesn’t really exist.

Of course, we’re operating in a unique market. This is a North American World Cup involving the United States, Canada and Mexico, so pricing had to reflect those market realities. Our experts analyzed the market before the tournament and determined what they believed were the right price levels.

And now we can see the outcome. Tickets that some people claimed were overpriced are being resold on the perfectly legal secondary market for four or even five times their original value.

The important distinction is this: the money from resale goes to the individual sellers. The revenue from tickets sold by FIFA goes back into football. It is distributed among FIFA’s 211 member associations to support football development around the world.

At the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, FIFA generated revenues of around CHF 5.3 billion. This time, total revenues could exceed CHF 10 billion. As FIFA President, how important is that?

When we took over FIFA ten years ago, the organization was close to bankruptcy – financially and morally.

Today, FIFA is the world's largest sporting organization. Over the 39 days of this World Cup, we expect to generate between 13 and 14 billion Swiss francs, all of which will be reinvested directly into football over the next four years. I would say that's a very satisfying outcome.

Can we already say that expanding the tournament to 48 teams was the right decision?

Absolutely – one hundred percent. The 48-team format has been a tremendous success. Every team has been competitive. Nations from every confederation have scored goals and earned points. Nine of the ten African teams reached the knockout stage. At the previous World Cup, Africa had only five representatives.

That shows exactly why it was important to give more countries the opportunity to participate.

Some people are already suggesting expanding the tournament to 64 teams. That is certainly something that will be examined after this World Cup and discussed within FIFA's governing bodies.

When you organize a World Cup, you organize it for the entire world – not just for Europe and South America, but for every continent. Every nation should be able to dream of playing in the World Cup.

The quality of football continues to improve everywhere. If you deny smaller countries the chance to qualify, you also take away an important incentive for them to keep developing.

Could 64 teams soon compete at the FIFA World Cup?

AP The Canadian Press

As FIFA President, are you still allowed to support Switzerland?

When Switzerland plays, absolutely. Of course, I have to remain professional, but naturally something stirs inside me whenever Switzerland is on the pitch.

Have you received any feedback from Donald Trump?

Yes. We are in regular contact – almost every day. He is delighted with the tournament and thinks it has been fantastic. He watches every match on television.

Why hasn't he attended a match yet? Security concerns?

No, no. I assume he has a few other responsibilities as well. (laughs). Besides, if he came to the stadium, people would probably ask why he was watching football when there are so many important issues in the world.

I remain in close contact with him and with his administration, which has been working extremely well with us throughout the tournament.

The plan is still for you and President Trump to present the World Cup trophy together after the final?

Yes, that is the plan. Hopefully, we will present the trophy together.

That has always been the intention, and it has long been tradition for the head of state of the host country to join the FIFA President in presenting the World Cup trophy after the final.