La Liga president urges Infantino to cancel Club World Cup
Yasmine Green
Dailysports's expert
Translated by the editors
The concept of a revamped Club World Cup appears to excite only FIFA. Most of the football community disapproves of this tournament, and frustrations have now extended to key figures in football administration.
Details: La Liga president Javier Tebas has called on FIFA president Gianni Infantino to abandon the new tournament, arguing that FIFA lacks the funds for it. Tebas claims that diverting funds to the Club World Cup would drain money intended for national football associations.
Quote: “Mr. FIFA President, you know that you haven’t sold the broadcasting rights to the Club World Cup at the budgeted amount. You know that you don’t have the sponsorship funds allocated for this Club World Cup. You know that leagues and player unions don’t want this Club World Cup. Drop it immediately.
If you plan to use FIFA funds to cover the shortfall to meet promises made to clubs, you’re taking that money from federations or regions FIFA has pledged to support. This amounts to over 1.5 billion euros, which will have to be sourced from these funds,” Tebas said at the European Club Association Forum in Brussels.
Reminder: Reports previously indicated that FIFA has struggled to secure broadcasting rights and attract sponsors for the tournament, creating a funding gap of approximately $4 billion that FIFA had anticipated the tournament would generate.
