FIFA President Gianni Infantino Breaks Silence, Reveals Why Africa Will Benefit From World Cup Every Two Years

FIFA President Gianni Infantino Breaks Silence, Reveals Why Africa Will Benefit From World Cup Every Two Years

Babajide Orevba
updated at April 12, 2023 at 7:54 PM
  • Gianni Infantino believes staging the Fifa World Cup every two years will be beneficial to countries outside Europe
  • The football chief disclosed that the idea is to help African economies develop, saying football brings opportunity
  • Infantino suggested that it will give hope to Africans so that they don’t need to cross the Mediterranean and die in the sea

The president of Fifa, Gianni Infantino, says the World Cup being held every two years will go a long way in preventing African migrants from death in the sea, The Athletic reports.

Infantino made this declaration during a session of the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe, a trans-national body dedicated to the support of human rights.

According to him, several other countries outside Europe need greater access to top football competitions in a bid to prevent drastic consequences.

Gianni Infantino
Gianni Infantino campaigns for World Cup to be held every two years. Photo: Pool
Source: Getty Images

Infantino shares his strategy

The 51-year-old Swiss-Italian was sharing his strategy about ‘Future of Football’ which aims at holding the World Cup every two years.

He told the assembly as per The Guardian:

“This topic is not about whether we want a World Cup every two years, but about what do we want to do for the future of football.
“If we think about rest of world and the vast majority of Europe, then we have to think about what football brings. Football is about opportunity, about hope, about the national teams. We cannot say to the rest of world give us your money, but watch us on TV. We need to include them.
“We need to find ways to include the whole world to give hope to Africans so that they don’t need to cross the Mediterranean in order to find maybe a better life but, more probably, death in the sea.
“We need to give opportunities, to give dignity. Not by charity but by allowing the rest of the world to participate. Maybe the World Cup every two years is not the answer. We discuss it.”

Infantino wants AFCON played at year-end

Meanwhile, Sports Brief earlier reported that Fifa President Gianni Infantino has caused a division among diehard football fans over his suggestion that AFCON be played at year-end.

He added that Fifaas also working on having two possible time periods for future tournaments, allowing the host nation to decide what would suit them best, because of the different weather conditions at the different times of the year.

Infantino believes that making the change will also ease the club vs country row, which rears its head whenever major tournaments clash with league fixtures.

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Babajide Orevba
Babajide Orevba is a CAF accredited Nigerian journalist and HOD of the Local Desk with over 10 years of experience in media landscape.He studied NCE Political Science/Social Studies, AOCOED.
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