Дэлхийн аварга шалгаруулах тэмцээнд хувийн хөрөнгө оруулагчдыг оруулах Жанни Инфантиногийн санаачилга Ази, Европ болон Хойд Америкийн хөлбөмбөгийн холбоодын эсэргүүцэлтэй тулгарч, долоодугаар сарын 31-ний баасан гарагийн орой цуцлагдлаа.
УЕФА-гийн зүгээс уг төлөвлөгөөг дэмжвэл тэмцээнүүдийг бойкотлохоо мэдэгдсэн нь ФИФА-гийн ерөнхийлөгчийн шийдвэрээсээ буцахад гол нөлөө үзүүлэв. Уг үйл явцтай зэрэгцэн ФИФА-гийн ахлах зөвлөх Карлос Кордейро эсэргүүцлээ илэрхийлэн албан тушаалаасаа огцорсон юм.
Хэрэв Европ тив Дэлхийн аваргаас хасагдвал Килиан Мбаппе, Эрлинг Холанд, Жүүд Беллингхэм зэрэг од тоглогчид тоглолтоос хасагдаж, тэмцээний зах зээлийн үнэлгээ эрс буурах байлаа. Гэсэн хэдий ч энэ нь Бразил, Аргентин, Уругвай зэрэг Өмнөд Америкийн багуудын ноёрхлыг улам бэхжүүлж, Мексик, Япон, АНУ зэрэг улсуудад шөвгийн шатанд шалгарах боломжийг нээж өгөх байв.
Инфантино уг төлөвлөгөөгөө дамжуулан арилжааны үнэ цэнийг нэмэгдүүлэх зорилготой байсан ч Европын хүчирхэг холбоодын нэгдсэн эсэргүүцэл түүнийг ялагдал хүлээхэд хүргэлээ. Энэхүү үйл явдал нь хөлбөмбөгийн дэлхийн тавцан дахь арилжааны болон өрсөлдөөний тэнцвэрт байдлыг хадгалахын тулд холбоодын нөлөө хэр чухал болохыг харуулсан юм.
Дэлгэрэнгүй эх сурвалжийг харах
Эх сурвалжийг нээх ↓
At first glance, FIFA’s plan to let private equity into the World Cup looked like a spectacular own goal from Gianni Infantino — the moment the hot wax started dripping from his sun-bound wings.
The proposal was emphatically rebuffed, with the Asian Football Confederation joining UEFA, European football’s governing body, and CONCACAF, which represents North and Central America and the Caribbean, in rejecting it.
UEFA led the backlash, saying it would boycott FIFA tournaments if the proposal was accepted. For all their unity, its North American and Asian counterparts stopped short of matching that threat.
Within days of the plans being made public, they lay in tatters, cancelled in a statement from Infantino late on Friday night.
But this piece had already been written and edited by then, so we thought, as a thought experiment, unlike FIFA we would push on.
What would a World Cup look like without Europe?
Well, it would create a vacuum of star talent, for starters.
Say farewell to Golden Boot winner Kylian Mbappe, player of the tournament Rodri and household names such as Erling Haaland, Jude Bellingham and Lamine Yamal. It would amount to a spectacular act of asset stripping.
According to Transfermarkt, the German website that estimates players’ market values, the upper end of the market is overwhelmingly dominated by Europeans. The 223 players valued at €40million or more are worth a combined €14billion, with €10.3billion of that coming from UEFA nations.
It looks like a spectacular shortfall, but surely it’s nothing that Infantino’s proposed cadre of canny financial wizards could not solve. He believes private investment can help FIFA “unlock previously uncaptured commercial value”, presumably through groundbreaking innovations such as more adverts and higher ticket prices. Pining for the thrill of a Kylian Mbappe hat-trick? Soothe yourself by purchasing another Non-Fungible Token of a FIFA legend during the game’s fifth hydration break.
And besides, new stars would rise to fill the void. Brazil attacker Vinicius Junior would assume the role of the World Cup’s most valuable player at €140million, while U.S. forward Folarin Balogun would be propelled from 105th in the current, Eurocentric World Cup to 28th in the new order.
One criticism levelled at the World Cup is that, despite a month of high-octane drama, the same small collection of countries ultimately wins it. Only eight have ever lifted the trophy, with France’s triumph in 1998 the last time a country won it for the first time.
The self-banishment of UEFA sides would raise the prospect of greater diversity, with Europe having won six of the past eight tournaments and accounting for most of the teams in the competition’s latter stages.
Historically, this theory does not stand up to much scrutiny and, in fact, suggests an even more concentrated list of victors. If we revisit every World Cup, remove every European side and award the trophy to the team that progressed furthest, excluding tournaments such as 2018 when two non-UEFA sides, Uruguay and Brazil, reached the quarter-finals but neither made the semi-finals, we are left with a South American hegemony.
Argentina, as losing finalists in 2014 and 2026, would now have won three of the last four World Cups. The final tally would read eight titles for Brazil, six for Argentina and four for Uruguay, with five tournaments producing no winner. Those are the same three South American sides that have already won the competition.
Of course, football does not work like this, and other sides snuffed out early by European teams might have embarked on deep runs. Six of Mexico’s 10 knockout exits have come at European hands, most recently a 3-2 defeat by England in 2026. Without those pesky UEFA sides, perhaps they could finally clear that elusive round-of-16 hurdle and, who knows, even win the whole thing.
Japan launched a strategy in 1992 to win the World Cup within 100 years, a timeline that would surely be accelerated without Europe, which has stood in their way in three of their five knockout matches.
And with no Belgium standing in their way, the United States would not need the President to step in and overturn a suspension in an attempt to get past another disruptive European opponent.
CONCACAF won 38 per cent of its games at the 2026 World Cup, its best showing since 2002, while a United States victory would provide a welcome boost to FIFA’s commercial coffers.
Meanwhile, Morocco remain the only side from outside Europe and South America to reach a World Cup semi-final, losing 2-0 to France in 2022. Remove Europe, and they and Senegal would immediately become two of the favourites.
With his senior adviser Carlos Cordeiro resigning in protest at the proposal on Friday, it was not long before Infantino was accepting defeat.
But… perhaps he is the visionary that football needs to cast off the European millstone that has long dragged the World Cup down, preventing it from unlocking its true, competitive and, above all, commercial potential.
