The Fifa president, Gianni Infantino, has submitted a potentially explosive proposal for a lucrative, revamped Club World Cup, featuring top Premier League and European clubs and to be played every season. Uefa is understood to be fiercely opposed to the proposals, which will be considered by Fifa’s council meeting in Rwanda on Friday. European football’s governing body will regard any plan for an annual club tournament as a direct challenge to the Champions League.
Uefa and the European Club Association were highly critical of Fifa’s proposals earlier this year to reconfigure the Club World Cup. Speaking at the time, Infantino said he had investors, who were never identified, willing to pay $12bn for four tournaments every four years from 2021. The Japanese telecoms giant Softbank is widely reported to be backing the plan, although Fifa has not named any of the investors, citing a confidentiality agreement. The world governing body has consistently downplayed reports that a major portion of the money is coming from Saudi Arabia.
Infantino has met the king of Saudi Arabia, Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, and the crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, four times in the past year, but Saudi involvement in any Fifa venture would be deeply controversial given the worldwide revulsion at the violent death of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul this month.
Infantino is seeking re-election as Fifa president next year and has promised Fifa’s national member football associations that the world governing body will spend “more than $4bn” on football development globally by 2026. Fifais pledging that significant income will be distributed to national associations from the revamped Club World Cup and a new Nations League, for which the investors promised $13bn over 12 years – a total of $25bn for the two tournaments.
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