18 hours ago
8
The Uefa president, Aleksander Ceferin, has hit out at a proposal to expand the 2030 men’s World Cup to 64 teams, calling the concept a “bad idea” and appearing to criticise Fifa for not advising his organisation of the suggestion in advance.
Fifa confirmed last month that it would consider adopting the sprawling new format as a one-off in 2030 to celebrate the tournament’s centenary, after the idea was raised at a meeting of its council by the Uruguayan football association president, Ignacio Alonso.
The global governing body said the subject had been brought up spontaneously and that it had “a duty to analyse” any proposal. But Ceferin left no doubt it would not have Uefa’s backing and was evidently unimpressed by its unexpected emergence.
“This proposal that was made was even more surprising than it was for you,” he said after Uefa’s annual congress concluded in Belgrade. “I think it’s not a good idea for the World Cup itself, and it’s not a good idea for our qualifiers as well. So I’m not supporting that idea. I don’t know where it came from, but it’s strange that we didn’t know anything before this proposal at the Fifa council.”
Uefa will be sending 16 teams to the 2026 World Cup when it adopts a 48-team format for the first time. That number would grow again in the event of a 64-team competition but there is little appetite within the organisation for a vastly watered-down qualifying tournament.
The 2030 edition will be held in Spain, Portugal and Morocco with one-off matches in Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay. It is the next World Cup in which Russia could potentially participate, pending a peaceful resolution to the country’s war in Ukraine. Ceferin held his usual line when the subject of their reintegration, a live topic in sport’s corridors of power, was raised.
“When the war stops, they will be readmitted,” he said. “The first decision [to ban Russia] was done together with Fifa. And as much as we discussed with Fifa, I think we will do it together when we do it.”
Ceferin’s counterpart at Fifa, Gianni Infantino, had earlier expressed a wish to see Russia compete when the conditions are right. Infantino addressed the congress and nodded to the example of Yugoslavia’s disqualification from the 1992 European Championship when expressing a wish for Russia to play again. Yugoslavia were ejected after war led to the country’s disintegration; Russia have been banned from Fifa and Uefa events since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine three years ago.
“We have always to use sport, and football in particular, to bring people together,” Infantino said. “In our world, which is divided, we need to use every opportunity to make sure people speak to each other. As talks are going on for peace in Ukraine I hope we can soon move to the next stage and bring back, as well, Russia to the football landscape because this would mean everything is solved. That’s what we have to cheer for, to pray for.”
Ceferin was significantly less strident when asked to describe the difference between Uefa’s treatment of Russia and Israel. The latter’s teams continue to play in international competitions despite widespread calls to bar them amid the war in Gaza. “If you speak about football, you can see the rankings,” he said. “If you speak about politics, don’t ask me.”
In what could be interpreted as another jab at Fifa and Infantino, Ceferin pointed to the added workload some players will experience at this summer’s controversial Club World Cup. “The Club World Cup is happening, and that’s it,” he said. “The clubs from Europe wanted it and I don’t see this as competition to our competition. It will be more matches for some of the players, but maybe that’s more of a question for my dear colleague Gianni Infantino.”
after newsletter promotion
Otherwise the day in Serbia’s capital passed with little of the tension that marked last year’s congress, in which Ceferin succeeded with his plan to extend presidential term limits before wrong-footing his audience by saying he would stand down in 2027 rather than make use of that option. There are suggestions that some of Uefa’s federations would back him if he decided to run for an unprecedented fourth term and he did not quash the idea this time.
“Let’s speak about today’s congress now,” he said. “I’ve heard many things, you’ve heard many things, but it’s not a good time to speak about it.”
In a series of votes to fill vacant spots on Uefa’s executive committee, Andriy Shevchenko was the most high-profile candidate to fall by the wayside. The president of Ukraine’s football association had run for one of two available two-year terms but his 15 votes were not enough to secure a seat at the table. Israel’s Moshe Zuares was more successful, amassing 31 votes and being elected along with the Spaniard Rafael Louzán Abal.
Overnight a spate of graffiti had appeared outside Sava Centar, the venue for the congress, protesting against Israel’s continued activity within Uefa and its tournaments.
