Infantino to lay out plans for new term at FIFA Congress in Kigali

KIGALI: The major discussion points have already been settled before delegates gather for the 73rd FIFA Congress in the Rwandan capital of Kigali on Thursday (Mar 16), including the format for the 2026 Soccer World Cup and Gianni Infantino’s next term as president.

Incumbent Infantino will stand unopposed making his re-election a formality, even if he is not universally popular among member associations for a range of reasons, including pushing for a failed plan to play the World Cup every two years.

Instead there will be an expanded finals that will feature 48 teams at the 2026 event co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico, with a format that will see 104 matches played, up from 64, to bolster FIFA’s already burgeoning revenues.

It will mean more funding for poorer member associations, who will each receive a minimum of $8-million for the cycle between 2023-26.

FIFA announced in December that its projected revenue would rise to US$11-billion for this next cycle, a jump from US$7.5-billion in the period up to 2022.

That has masked to some degree the controversies around his first seven years in office, including issues surrounding the Qatar World Cup.

The tournament in the desert state led to a significant amount of political discussion around the host's treatment of migrant labour, its approach to LGBT rights and FIFA's threats to penalise players for political statements. This included the banning of the anti-discrimination 'One Love' armband which drew criticism from a number of quarters.

The Norwegian football federation has tabled a proposal to discuss on Thursday "whether it (FIFA) has fulfilled its responsibility to remedy (issues) related to the 2022 World Cup, including an investigation into World Cup-related