Gianni Infantino’s desperate bid to woo Lionel Messi sums up chaos of Club World Cup
Gianni Infantino did not even try to fly under the radar, preferring instead to announce live to a full stadium, in front of the television cameras that, as Fifa president, he had the power to decide who played in his competitions and who did not.
This was the evening of last Sunday, in Florida, when Infantino declared to a surprised audience that Inter Miami would play in the new 32-team Fifa Club World Cup next summer. Behind him, the cameras caught Inter’s captain Lionel Messi chuckling with his team-mates. Maybe even he was surprised at just how brazen this Swiss lawyer could be.
The Fifa Club World Cup is Infantino’s big play for a slice of the broadcast billions of the club game – but it has been beset with problems. Domestic leagues are taking legal action. Many players and their unions oppose the expansion of a calendar at bursting point. The clubs are unsure of what they might earn from it. The broadcasters have not yet publicly committed. If the Saudis have pledged to finance it, no-one is saying.
On top of that, Fifa’s clunky qualification criteria, as well as poor on-field performances, had meant four of the best supported teams in Europe – Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Barcelona – would not be there. Neither had Cristiano Ronaldo made it with Al-Nassr.
Infantino needed something to pique the interest of broadcasters, so he delivered Messi. Perhaps the little maestro had not realised it as he sat behind Infantino with the Major League Soccer Supporters’ Shield but – there goes your summer, Leo. The tournament, to be played in the US between June 15 and July 13, will now, Infantino said, begin in Miami’s own Hard Rock Stadium, no doubt featuring Messi.
None of this had been agreed when the qualification criteria was announced. In the aftermath this week MLS clubs reacted privately with dismay. Their understanding was that it would be the winner of the MLS Cup that would take the Club World Cup host nation place, after the play-off tournament was concluded on December 7.
The rest of the football world may crown its league season winners the champions, but US sport is different. One might disagree with the American obsession with play-offs but the convention is that the MLS champion is not decided until the MLS Cup final is played. For its part, the MLS executive has told its protesting clubs in private that it had nothing to do with a decision made unilaterally by Fifa. Meanwhile, Fifa says it did so in discussion with MLS.
Infantino must be desperate. A man who never exposes himself to the scrutiny of independent media, preferring instead to communicate via professionally produced Instagram content, he needed Messi in the Club World Cup. He could not risk Inter Miami fouling-up the play-offs.
Before last Sunday, the qualifiers from the Concacaf region, North and Central America, encompassed the last four Concacaf champions – Seattle Sounders as well as three Mexican clubs. Imagine the horror at Fifa headquarters if Columbus Crew or FC Cincinnati triumphed over Messi, Luis Suarez et al in the MLS Cup. On such outcomes does the interest of broadcasters depend.
Fifa denied that Infantino simply announced Miami’s qualification off-the-cuff. It said a decision was made that the MLS regular league season winners would take the host nation place – although how it arrived at that decision Fifa would not say. Ever more Infantino feels like he is replicating in the real-world the star-fest vibe of the EA Sports video game that once bore Fifa’s name. In the global battle for television rights dominance in 2024 nothing seems off the table.
The 2021 Super League breakaway set the tone for invitational football tournaments. Now a Fifa president is emboldened to declare new qualification criteria eight months before the competition begins. None of this does anything for the credibility of a tournament that already has little value in the eyes of many. To think that Fifa first justified it on the basis that it was superior to pre-season tours and their tournaments complete with faux-trophy presentations.
Infantino’s long-term aim remains the chiselling away of the global dominance of the Uefa Champions League and the Premier League in the rights market. He wants all domestic leagues, including the Premier League, to go down to 18 teams. That will reduce their capacity in the global calendar so Fifa can seize more of its matchdays. But for all that ambition he still needs to fund this first edition of the Club World Cup.
His best bet would appear to be the Saudis, who expect to be anointed as the 2034 World Cup hosts at the Fifa Congress on December 11. One expects them in return to support Infantino. Yet once Mohammed bin Salman has that 2034 tournament confirmed, Infantino has very little leverage.
The Fifa president had tried – and failed – with a biennial World Cup. He tried – and failed – with his proposal in 2018 to increase the 2022 World Cup final in Qatar to 48 teams and force Qatar to accept some co-hosts, potentially even Saudi itself. His third attempt to juice Fifa revenue is the Club World Cup.
So far it has forced Fifa to amend rules on players’ contracts, in order that those who fall into free agency on June 30 can play the knockout stages. It has changed the shape of the summer for the competing clubs, and by extension their pre-season preparations. Then there is the legal challenge from the European Leagues and Fifpro. It has been chaos.
It does not speak of a Fifa president in control. No doubt Fifa will find the funds from somewhere to pay for the tournament that no-one, bar Fifa itself, asked for. In the end someone will pay for the rights although how much, no-one can say. In the meantime Infantino appears to be announcing the qualification rules as he goes along. But he was back on the case this week, this time in Addis Ababa, telling anyone who would listen that this new tournament is good for football.