FIFA president Gianni Infantino to speed up new Club World Cup plans, scrap Confederations Cup in meeting, claims report

Berlin: Gianni Infantino wants to speed up plans for a new Club World Cup and abolish the Confederations Cup at next week’s FIFA council meeting in Miami, according to German broadcaster ZDF. [caption id=“attachment_6096161” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Gianni Infantino. Reuters[/caption] The report says FIFA president Infantino wants to discuss expanding the Club World Cup from its current format of seven teams to 24, including 12 sides from Europe on Thursday and Friday in the US. The Swiss also reportedly wants to scrap the Confederations Cup, an international tournament held the year before a World Cup by the host nation and last won by Germany in Russia in 2017. According to the ZDF report, the new-look Club World Cup would be held from 2021, a year before Qatar hosts the 2022 World Cup. “Yes, that’s the way it will come about, we want to say goodbye to the Club World Cup (in its current format) and we will make that decision,” Fernando Sarney, Brazil’s member of the FIFA Council, told ZDF. According to the report, Infantino also wants to delay plans to introduce a global Nations League until a later date. European football’s governing body UEFA has so far opposed the introduction of a new Club World Cup from 2021 in an already congested fixture list.