September 21 – Speaking to a group of club administrators at a FIFA Diploma in Club Management session, FIFA president Gianni Infantino broke from his normal international and national team themes to tell them that club management worldwide needs to improve.
His theme covered the need to close the gap between Europe’s clubs and the rest of the world as well as the importance for club executives to have a wider global perspective covering calendars, competition, and transfer regulations.
“It is important for everyone involved to understand the interests of the world,” he said. “This is part of making football truly global.”
His belief is that it is also the route to bringing in a more equitable competitive balance, re-emphasising his vision of a future where at least 50 clubs from around the world are good enough to win a potential Club World Cup.
“Now, 20 of these clubs will be European and that is fine, but the other 30 have to be from the five other continents and that will be fantastic,” he said.
To get to that point requires higher quality management across football’s club spectrum.
“Clubs need to be performing at better and better standards, because it is true that there is a gap between a few countries in Europe – not even the whole of Europe, but a few countries – and the rest of the world,” said Infantino.
“What we need to do is to close the gap, not by bringing these big Europeans down, because these big Europeans also need to continue to grow. But the rest of the world has to grow as well and ensure we have a more competitive football world out there.”
The Diploma in Club Management provides learning for club executives and former international players on the leading business management thinking globally. The second edition of the 12-month programme, includes football greats Carli Lloyd, Tim Cahill, Fernandinho, John Terry and Juan Mata.
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