FIFA Presidential Election: Gianni Infantino Campaigns For Regional World Cups

Gianni Infantino has pressed on dishing out his manifesto ahead of the FIFA Presidential election which will hold next month. Infantino wants a whole region to host the biggest event in the world instead of just only one country. Do you share his view?

"FIFA should investigate the possibility of organising the World Cup not only in one or two countries but in a whole region", wrote the UEFA general secretary."That would enable several countries to enjoy the honour and benefits of hosting the World Cup", added the candidate, who also said he was in favour of plans to expand the tournament from 32 to 40 participating countries.


To date, the World Cup finals have only been hosted by two countries in 2002, when they were held in Japan and South Korea. Uruguay and Argentina have also expressed an interest in jointly hosting the tournament in 2030.

The Swiss explained that a World Cup involving 40 countries could be divided into eight groups of five: "It would only require an additional three days of football and would not affect the international calendar".

Infantino also promised greater FIFA transparency and called for the bulk of the organisation's reserves, estimated to be in the region of 1.5 billion dollars, to be distributed amongst its 209 member federations.

Infantino's opponents in the elections on 26th February in Zurich to decide who will replace Sepp Blatter as the organisation's president are Bahrain's Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa - the current head of the Asian Confederation -, Jordanian prince Ali bin Al Hussein, France's Jérôme Champagne and South Africa's Tokyo Sexwale.