FIFA'S NEW ENDGAME: GLOBALIZE THE BIGGEST CLUBS & PROFIT FROM IT IN PRIVATE CONTINENTAL COMPETITIONS

A few year’s into Gianni Infantino’s presidency, it has become clear what FIFA’s endgame is and what it holds for the club game around the world.

Gianni has already announced plans to expand the World Cup from 32 to 48 teams and is now planning to create an expanded Club World Cup that would happen every four years and involve 24 teams from the six continental competitions and the domestic champions of the country hosting, which in this case will most likely be China for 2021.

Infantino has also lofted the idea of a global club league and revamping continental competitions like the CAF Champions League and AFC Champions League under different ownership to “grow the game” for the continents biggest clubs.

While I do think a revamp of the Club World Cup is needed and a larger tournament would bring more prestige in the short term, Infantino is missing the bigger picture.

It is clear to every fan that this game is being taken over by the elites, billionaires, and private sports agencies of this planet. From the mega transfer fees to the Champions League becoming a closed shop to the Spanish Football Federation selling rights of the Spanish Super Cup to play it in Saudi Arabia to the possibility of playing a La Liga home game in Miami of a smaller team (like the NBA, which now plays regular season games in Mexico).

This is the new world soccer is facing. Globalize the biggest clubs, profit from it, and forget about the vast majority of clubs who have built this game to where it is today (i.e. Rangers, Celtic, Red Star, Spartak Moscow, Malmo, AEK Athens, Shamrock Rovers, etc.)

The bottom line is football is becoming like American sports and it might not be for the better. Infantino is playing into this narrative as FIFA is taking on more of a role into the club game in his presidency.

For those of us who understand the history of the beautiful game. This could spell trouble.

While yes, it is hopelessly romantic to harken back to the days when the game was first started and clubs were built from the communities which they resided in. The game now has strayed so far from its roots, at times it is unrecognizable.

This is troubling for those clubs based in communities and countries where the game has been abused for years. These places include Greece, Bulgaria, West Africa, and the states of the old USSR.

Money is needed professionalize these smaller leagues and make these countries relevant again but it is not happening there because the game is in disrepair there. There is a crisis of governance currently facing the game and that crisis partly stems from globalization and the lack of change in the institutions that have failed to adapt.

In this year alone, we have seen crisis in the Argentina FA, Greek FA, Ghana FA, Nigerian FA, Irish FA, Laos FA, and so many more places I could name but won’t for the sake of time.

Infantino shouldn’t be focusing his efforts on making more money on continental club competitions. He should be focused on fixing the governance issues of the club game that have hurt it for so long under the age of globalization in these smaller countries and work on helping these clubs corporatize without selling their soul to the highest bidder. One solution is perhaps multi-national leagues between cultural and geographical regions. The only question is how to implement it with an open system that gives all clubs within that region a chance at the top league.

The bottom line is that soccer is only as good as its weakest clubs and countries. These countries to be honest have never been weaker in terms of a governance perspective and forming a sustainable league system. It seems as if every week we are writing about an old club going bankrupt after being bankrolled by an owner who really doesn’t care about the sport or another league is on delay due to political corruption or match fixing within their local FA.

So many of these places are hurting and haven’t been fixed since the start of the century. There are some success stories but they are few and far between.

Infantino needs to understand that the club game was built on passion and the collective nature not billionaires and sports agencies. That’s what makes soccer different and he needs to tap into that.

In this age of global stars, mega contracts, and pop culture, soccer can still tap into this but it also needs to make continental competitions more equal for countries that lack investment and relevancy in the age of globalization.

There is already talk of a closed Champions League and we all know that would kill the game in Eastern Europe, a place where football is cherished despite it’s far right/conservative leanings at times.

The gap is already enormous between the elite global clubs and the rest. Infantino should be fighting this, not exacerbating it and copying the model across the planet in order to make more money. That’s not what this game was built on and that’s what makes it different.

Soccer isn’t like American sports and that’s a good thing.