“BRING back Sepp Blatter”. Well, not quite. But it’s safe to say the general reaction to new FIFA president Gianni Infantino’s plan to revamp the World Cup has not cast him as a radical improvement to his disgraced predecessor.

The European Club Association has branded Infantino’s plan to raise the number of teams competing at the World Cup to 48 as a “political decision” – somewhat ironic given the way in which the Champions League has become a self-serving money generator for a cartel of Europe’s biggest clubs – and campaign group New FIFA Now have described the expansion as a “power grab”.

I agree that Infantino’s plans, as they stand, need some radical surgery to make them workable. But as a principle, an expansion to 48 teams should not be dismissed out of hand. If international football is to survive and flourish, it needs the whole of the world to be in thrall to it, not just the historic epicentres of Europe and South America.

We might regard international football as an unwanted distraction to the more appetising business of club competition in the Premier League, but in many countries, the national side remains a hugely-important symbol of identity and global recognition.

For many nations, competing at a World Cup or continental championship confers international value. It means something in a way that we take for granted. Ask football fans in Iceland or Northern Ireland whether they were behind the equally-controversial decision to increase the number of teams competing at the European Championships, and the reply will be unequivocal.

Having spent a big chunk of last summer in France, it was the presence of the so-called ‘smaller nations’ that generated the majority of the excitement and atmosphere that ultimately made Euro 2016 a success. Had the likes of Iceland, the Republic of Ireland, Wales and Hungary not been present, the whole thing would felt very stale.

The Northern Echo:

There were issues with the competitiveness of some matches, but that was not because the number of teams competing in France had increased. The presence of an extra eight teams didn’t dilute the standard of football on display – if anything, the standard was so poor because the bigger nations all had fairly wretched tournaments.

Where Euro 2016 really struggled was in the final two rounds of group games, where the decision to allow some third-placed finishers to qualify created an incentive for teams to adopt a defensive mind-set and set themselves up to ensure they were not beaten.

Which brings us to the major deficiency in the plans unveiled by Infantino earlier this week. A World Cup featuring 48 teams is not a problem per se – but a World Cup featuring 16 groups of three is a car crash waiting to happen. That is the aspect of the proposals that needs urgent rethinking.

The World Cup has had three-team groups in the past, and they did not work. They encouraged collusion and corruption, resulting in some of the biggest scandals in the tournament’s history, and the same issues would be evident if Infantino’s plans were to be adopted in their current form in 2026.

If you are playing in a three-team group, with the top two progressing to the last 32, and you win your first game, you have very little incentive to play a full-strength team in your second match. Alternatively, if you draw your first game, you head into your final fixture knowing another draw will almost certainly be good enough to see you through.

To make matters worse, in that second scenario, you potentially find yourself playing against opponents who also know a draw will be sufficient. What happens next? Ninety minutes of keep-ball and a game that finishes goalless.

Even if money does not change hands, and there will undoubtedly be the potential for that to happen, human nature means players will settle for what they already have rather than risk a place in the knock-out round unnecessarily.

Infantino has hinted one way around the problem could be to stage a penalty shoot-out after every game that ends in a draw, with an extra point going to the winners. That changes the dynamics of the game entirely though, and would represent the unwanted Americanisation of ‘soccer’. Given the 2026 tournament could be staged in the US and Mexico, however, it cannot be ruled out.

The Northern Echo:

A better solution would be to scrap the decision to have three-team groups entirely. A personal preference would be for the worst-performing qualifiers (the teams who are currently forced to play off to secure a World Cup place) to play a knock-out game in order to reach the group stage. So you would have 16 teams leaving the tournament in the first round, enabling the remaining 32 to head into the groups.

Alternatively, you could have 12 four-team groups, with only the winners and four second-placed teams going through to the last 16. That would place the biggest nations in more jeopardy at the group stage, but would make matches hugely competitive from the off.

Expanding the World Cup to 48 teams need not be a disaster. It just needs a little more thought and planning than Infantino has currently provided.


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WHEN England legend Kelly Smith announced her retirement on Wednesday, she said women’s football in this country had never been in better shape. She has obviously not been playing for Sunderland.

Sunderland FC’s decision to turn Sunderland Ladies back into a part-time operation is a huge setback to women’s football in the North-East, and sends out all the wrong signals at a time when the women’s game is proving the growth in interest following the 2012 Olympics is sustainable.

While Sunderland deserve credit for supporting women’s football in a way that has not been matched by either Newcastle United or Middlesbrough, their decision to scale back their funding now is misguided.

Yes, chief executive Martin Bain is having to make some tough financial decisions, but last year’s support for the women’s team is a drop in the ocean compared to the men’s team’s weekly wage bill.

Sunderland are rightly proud of their Foundation’s community work – their latest move, however, suggests they are only interested in supporting you if you are male.


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IMAGINE if Team Sky had been found guilty of failing to inform drug testers about the whereabouts of their cyclists on three separate occasions within the space of a year. There would be rightly be widespread condemnation, and a call for the team and individual cyclists to face stringent sanctions.

That is exactly the position Manchester City find themselves in, but the worst they can expect to receive is an FA fine.

Football in this country does not take drug-taking seriously. Instead of being fined, Manchester City should be facing a points deduction for not complying to random testing rules.


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SLAVEN Bilic has revealed Dimitri Payet wants to leave West Ham. Judging by their valuations in the window so far, the Hammers had better get ready for a flurry of £1.5m bids…