FIFA’s plans of a 48-team World Cup has taken a big hit for the time being, as talks over the ambitious plans got shelved now.
Gianni Infantino, the FIFA president, confirmed the news, announcing that the discussions over a 48-team World Cup in the next edition, scheduled to be held in Qatar in 2022 got removed from the agenda of the 68th FIFA annual conference.
He had previously suggested he was optimistic about increasing the number of participating nations in the showpiece event.
However, going ahead with the plans now appears bleak, with the FIFA Congress – which is made up of 211 federations – having no input on the matter.
The governing body will now shift their focus to discussions with Qatar over some stadiums.
Speaking after a FIFA Council meeting in Moscow on Sunday, Infantino said:
“The dates have been fixed from the 20 something of November until December 18 with 32 teams in Qatar. This is the decision, and the decision stands, and that is the end of the story.
“In this case, it was ten associations raising a request, and the South Americans rightly say; ‘If we have more teams participating in a World Cup, we will have more teams to have the quality to participate and who can win’.
“And Chile, who is the winner of the Copa America, are not in Russia and they raise this question, so it is normal.
“Now what we will do is the administration of FIFA will discuss this with the host on whether there is a possibility and what this possibility would look like.
“If there is no possibility then we know what we have, and it will stand to what we have,” he added.
The FIFA president then spoke on the upcoming FIFA World Cup 2018, which kick start in Russia on Thursday.
The competition will witness a watershed moment, as Video Assistant Referee (VAR) will get used in a World Cup for the first time.
VAR has attracted mixed reactions from different domestic leagues, but Infantino insisted he is excited about it.
“I am very excited about the World Cup to start with. Not at all nervous about the VAR. I know there are no negative effects,” he said.
“You know, the worst thing that can happen is that the wrong decision is not corrected. And then people will say that you had VAR, but it didn’t correct the wrong decision.
“Fine, but the wrong decision was taken, and without VAR it would remain wrong. With VAR at least we have a chance that the wrong decision is corrected.
“So, I don’t see negatives with the VAR. In those countries where VAR is being applied now, they can already not live without it. When we see the statistics, also which were published I think yesterday or the day before in Italy; they are incredible in terms of accuracy of decisions. I am very confident it will work well, and it will help the referees,” he added.