Weltberbands President Gianni Infantino presented his ideas for the future in an eleven-point program at the FIFA Congress on Friday, which are likely to be controversial. The offside rule “is something that we have to look at,” said the Swiss, and simulation games for the already overloaded game calendar from 2024 should begin “with a blank sheet of paper”. In addition, the organization of the world championships is checked every two instead of four years.
The Congress approved a proposal by the Saudi Arabian Association to conduct a feasibility study – for the finals for men and women. “We have to go into these studies openly,” Infantino said during the post-Congress press conference. The sporting value will always be in the foreground, not the commercial one. The Swiss had already decided to increase the men's tournament from 32 to 48 participants, and the new format will premiere in 2026 in the USA, Canada and Mexico.
In his opening speech, Infantino emphasized that football must become “more global”. “Is football really global?” Asked the 51-year-old. “No he is not.” He sees a great imbalance, the greatest resources are distributed over a few clubs. Although he did not explicitly name the European Football Union, he was referring in particular to the European clubs that earn with their competitions all over the world, but only distribute the income in Europe.
Infantino reaffirmed his rejection of the failed Super League project. The existing model in football is also “not perfect”. The “New York Times” reported on Thursday (local time) that FIFA has been involved in talks with the Super League founders over the past few months. According to the US newspaper, the support of FIFA is said to have been a prerequisite for the founders to continue the plan of their own league apart from UEFA. The project of twelve European top clubs crashed within 48 hours at the end of April, only Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and Juventus Turin are still sticking to it.
The offside rule under point six in Infantino's program (rules of the game) has been under scrutiny for a while. “We're testing a possible new rule,” said Infantino. The key point is a reversal of the definition of when an attacker is called back because of an offside position. The test is currently being conducted in the United States and China.
So far, it is offside if an attacker is closer to the opponent's goal than the opponent's last outfield player with a part of his body with which he could score a goal (e.g. the knee) at the moment of play by the teammate in the opposing half. The possible new rule, explained Infantino, would be that the attacker would not have to be offside with any part of his body to score in order not to be whistled back.
