Paris: The European Club Association (ECA) insisted yesterday that extending the World Cup from 32 to 40 teams would put too much burden on clubs and inflict physical overload on players.
“We are satisfied with the balance of interest and any change would need very careful review,” insisted ECA vice-president Umberto Gandini.
The AC Milan director was speaking at the end of a two day working session in Paris with a bouquet of subjects on the club lobby group’s agenda, chiefly aimed at combating Fifa reforms to the World Cup.
ECA said “the burden on players has become too much” and described the new proposal by Fifa presidential candidate Gianni Infantino as leading to physical overload.
“The clubs acknowledge the importance of national teams to the federations but we have a responsibility to the players,” Gandini explained.
Manifesto
Gandini revealed that Infantino had presented his manifesto to them yesterday and that the Swiss intended to extend the World Cup to 40 teams by 2026 if elected.
“We have only recently agreed a new international calendar until 2022, so we would be disappointed if they were to try and impose a change already,” Gandini added.
“But we wish Gianni well, he deserves the best and Fifa deserve the best. We understand he needs to attract votes from all over the world now, but on this point we cannot back him.”
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