Money — or the opportunity to make it — appears to be seldom far from Gianni Infantino’s mind.
As the outspoken president of FIFA, he was the driving force behind record-breaking revenue that ballooned to $7.6billion (£9.5m) for the four-year cycle that concluded with the 2022 World Cup finals in Qatar. The expectation, already boldly outlined, is for that turnover to leap upwards to $11billion in the next cycle between now and 2026.
“Exceptionally robust” was the self-assessment of FIFA’s financial health in February and, with reserves totalling $3.97 billion at the last count in February, they were not kidding over at Zurich HQ.
The beast keeps on growing, but Infantino still wants more.
The Women’s World Cup, now less than 10 weeks away, is not yet delivering the returns FIFA had hoped for. Europe’s five biggest nations (Germany, France, the UK, Spain and Italy) are yet to close TV deals to broadcast the action from Australia and New Zealand, and Infantino, with his finger on the nuclear button, is threatening a blackout unless bids are upped.
“Should the offers continue not to be fair, we will be forced not to broadcast the FIFA Women’s World Cup into the big five European countries,” Infantino said at a World Trade Organisation meeting in Geneva last…
