By Andrew Warshaw
February 9 – The head of the umbrella body representing Europe’s clubs has issued another stern rebuke against FIFA president Gianni Infantino, this time over the proposed expansion of the Club World Cup.
Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, who leads the European Club Association and has already blasted Infantino over plans to increase the World Cup finals to 48 teams from 2026, says it makes no sense to also enlarge FIFA’s annual flagship club competition – featuring the champions from its six continental confederations – since, he adds somewhat provocatively, hardly anyone is interested in it.
Rummenigge has even hinted, not for the first time, that clubs could start withholding players because of worries over burnout.
The first Club World Cup was held in 2000 and four years later replaced the Intercontinental Cup, which featured only the winners of the continental competitions in Europe and South America. Infantino late last year floated the idea of moving the event from December to June and making it almost five times larger with as many as 32 teams, possibly starting as early as 2019.
But in an interview with Germany’s Sport Bild publication, Rummenigge said that far from expanding the end-of-year Club World Cup it would be better to scrap it altogether.
“The current Club World Cup format with seven teams is nonsense. Everyone agrees,” he charged
Pointing out that the competition had limited television coverage in large parts of Europe, he added: “That’s proof that the public interest is totally limited, not just in Germany. And most of all that’s down to the uninteresting format.”
Rummenigge says the international match calendar is already overloaded with no room for what he clearly believes is an unnecessary competition. “It would maybe be an interesting signal from the clubs to say that it’s best to scrap the Club World Cup altogether in the interest of the players, even though a lot of money could be earned with it.”
In fact, he adds, the number of international breaks each year could easily be halved without reducing the number of fixtures.
“We now have four international breaks,” Rummenigge said. “The number of games can remain the same in theory, but there should only be two international breaks, which can be longer.
“In October and March: We could play four instead of two games during those international breaks. This would also have the advantage for the national team coaches that the teams could be together for a longer spell and for instance work on tactical things.”
Asked if his members might prevent their players from joining national teams if FIFA does not ease the burden, he replied: “I am convinced that FIFA will and must take action. Gianni Infantino has declared he wants to be a democratic president. FIFA can’t be interested in a revolution.”
Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1714291371labto1714291371ofdlr1714291371owedi1714291371sni@n1714291371osloh1714291371cin.l1714291371uap1714291371