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07/21 14:47 CDT Tebas: Infantino should resign for 'destroying the football
industry'
Tebas: Infantino should resign for 'destroying the football industry'
By CARLOS RODRIGUEZ
AP Sports Writer
Gianni Infantino should resign as head of FIFA for "destroying the football
industry" by expanding international competitions, La Liga president Javier
Tebas said Tuesday.
It is not the first time he has lashed out at Infantino over fixture congestion
and for considering a proposal to expand the 2030 men's World Cup from 48 teams
to 64.
"Increasing the number of national teams makes no sense. The football industry
isn't just the World Cup, which is the most important event. But not everything
can revolve around the World Cup," Tebas told La Gazzetta dello Sport.
"In my opinion, yes, I think his time is up," he said of Infantino. "However,
he has the support of the system and the federations, so there's not much more
to add, is there? There's no opposition candidate, nobody wants to stand just
to lose. This is the system and it's rotten at its core.
"He shouldn't stay, but he won't leave. I've heard many people who are against
Infantino. They say it, but then they do nothing. I don't know what's worse,
the silence or the complicity, because those who stay silent are perfectly
aware of the damage football is suffering."
South American soccer's ruling body CONMEBOL has made an official proposal to
expand the 2030 World Cup to 64 teams. The competition is already set to be the
most sprawling edition with six host nations spread across three continents.
"It's national competition that sustains this sport," Tebas added. "They are
destroying the football industry, which generates tens of thousands of jobs,
for an event that lasts 40 days and involves a minority of players."
He also criticized world football's governing body FIFA over the new hydration
breaks implemented at the World Cup which ended Sunday, as well as the extended
27-minute halftime interval --- rather than the standard 15 --- during the
final that saw Spain defeat Argentina 1-0.
The hydration breaks midway through each half were introduced to help players
deal with the summer heat in the United States, Canada and Mexico. But critics
say they had unintended consequences, ruining the flow of the game and giving
coaches a chance to tactically shift momentum in their team's favor.
"FIFA arranges things as it pleases, for what it wants, for its own interests
--- certainly not for football," Tebas said. "Hydration breaks are a lie. We
have them in La Liga, but only when it's genuinely hot. Here, the pitches in
Dallas, Los Angeles, and Atlanta had air conditioning. It was a lie --- and
just a break for advertising."
Infantino announced in April that he would run for re-election for a fourth
term as president. The vote for the 2027--2031 period is scheduled for March 18
in Morocco.
The Football Supporters Europe group also called on the wider soccer community
to hold FIFA to account.
In a statement on its website headlined "A World Cup that failed supporters",
the FSE demanded "structural governance reforms to hand decision-making power
back to the FIFA Council and Congress and ensure full consultation with clubs,
leagues, players and supporters."
It added: "The 2026 World Cup should have been a celebration of the game and
the supporters who give it life. Instead, it has too often become a case study
in what is so deeply wrong with football today.
"From the outset, supporters were asked to place their trust in FIFA and
"chill", but it prioritised spectacle and commercialisation over the
match-going experience with key elements of football's identity being messed
with. Over the last month, we've seen football contorted to the whim of Gianni
Infantino and the Trump administration."
The FSE, accepted by European soccer's governing body UEFA as the recognized
group representing fans in the region, then went on to attack "historically
high ticket prices" and "skyrocketing transportation costs, bending of rules
and procedures, exclusion of swathes of the global population and a lack of
transparent communication.
"All this created an environment of confusion and distrust that has severely
damaged the reputation of FIFA, the World Cup, and the integrity of football
itself.
"The lessons from this World Cup are clear: FIFA is unfit to govern global
football. The future of the game cannot rest in the hands of a man who has
proven yet again that he puts financial and political interests ahead of the
future of our game."
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
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