October 30 – The Confederations Cup, the traditional World Cup warm-up tournament, could eventually be scrapped in its present format and replaced with a revised and far more credible version of the Club World Cup, a much-maligned annual tournament featuring the champion of each Continent but which has not caught on in the way FIFA might have hoped.
Europe has won nine of the last 10 editions and FIFA president Gianni Infantino concedes it needs a fresh approach.
“The current Club World Cup is a nice competition but it has not really had the impact that was hoped in development of club football around the world,” Infantino told the press conference that followed last week’s FIFA Council meeting in India.
“We have to see if we can come up with something special, something new which will help club football and confederations all around the world.
“When FIFA organises a competition, it should be something special, so either we find a special tournament or we’d rather not do it. One option could be to organise it instead of the Confederations Cup. That’s an idea. We will discuss it.”
Getting rid of the Confederations Cup, used as a testing ground every year before the World Cup, would prove a contentious move and both that and the Club World Cup will be reviewed at FIFA’s next council meeting in March. The next Club World Cup takes place in the United Arab Emirates in December and Infantino added: “We have to look at the future of this competition.
“[We must remember the] world being not just Europe and South America, but the whole world.”
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