football will suffocate its protagonists even more

by time news

BarcelonaGianni Infantino has not had enough of the World Cup held a few months ago. After a turbulent organization, the World Cup meeting based in Qatar left doubts and moral debts. Still luck, for the president of FIFA, that the World Cup was lifted by Lionel Andrés Messi with Argentina, perhaps the most powerful image that could compensate for the ferocity of a tournament with thousands of deaths behind it. The business of a sport where results are the smallest claim. Under this premise, the world football body announced this week, at its 73rd congress in Rwanda, a new format for the 2026 World Cup based in Mexico, Canada and the United States. There will be 12 groups in which the 48 participating teams will be divided, with a total of 104 matches to be played in 39 days. More matches, more box office. More profit, more money.

“The 2026 World Cup will change the balance in football,” Infantino explained at the end of February. FIFA wants to give opportunities with this new format to selections that, under the previous conditions, did not manage to qualify. Federations such as Concacaf (6), CAF (9) and AFC (8) will have more representatives, added to the 16 places for UEFA, the 6 for Conmebol and one for Oceania. The original idea was to frame the participating teams in 16 groups of 3, which would reduce the number of matches significantly from 104 to 80. The disadvantages: losing the excitement of the last day of the group stage and the possibility of pacts between teams , as happened between Federal Germany and Austria in the 1982 Naranjito World Cup.

The world of football calls for a change

FIFA’s decision is nothing but a consequence of how the football industry currently works. Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti reflected at the beginning of February on his team’s heavy game load: “It’s an incredible schedule. The League wants to do its thing, UEFA too, the Federation… everyone thinks what’s best for himself. We have to stop and think about the players.” And the coach of Barça, Xavi Hernández, who has suffered long-term absences this season like that of Ronald Araujo, sees with good eyes unifying the stops of national teams: “It would be a good idea if the international matches were played in a month, instead of having stops every little while.”

The problem in many teams arises when coordinating with the selections to lead the player’s day-to-day life. Marc Huguet, physical trainer who was part of the Italian Udinese in 2018, explains these difficulties to the ARA: “Players disappear and you lose control. It’s very complicated to work like this, every international window was a show”. Despite technological advances to shorten injuries, he points out that forcing footballers is not good. “The body needs its time, it is difficult to go against nature”. According to Xesco Espar, an expert in high performance, physical preparation is key, but he warns that it is not taken into account enough: “It is a problem that has been coming since the pre-season, they put a lot of pressure on the calendar due to an economic issue. The more matches, the less training and the less physical preparation. But everyone wants to make money.” This impairs muscle recovery, which means that many players cannot withstand such a high competitive load: “That’s why Pedri or Ansu get injured. The solution would be to hyperprofessionalize the player. Many times they are not athletes, they live for the matches,” he says to this newspaper

The 2026 World Cup is the tip of the iceberg. Without leaving FIFA, the new format of the Club World Cup, which will be introduced in 2025, presents an increased structure compared to the current format. “It will have 32 teams, we want to make it like a World Cup,” said Infantino during a press conference at the Rwandan Congress. On the other hand, UEFA and the state federations follow to the letter the road map marked by their followers, extending and even creating new competitions (such as the Conference League, the third European competition) which only feed a unstoppable wheel of television rights, box office and merchandising while players have to play more and more matches.

Infantino will continue to rule at will. In Rwanda he has been re-elected president of FIFA to a standing ovation, without any vote or opponent threatening to dethrone him from football’s most powerful body. It’s no wonder that sport goes the way of sheiks, tumultuous World Cups and flamboyant personalities like Turkish chef Salt Bae. Money and spectacle prevail in sport, its values ​​and the protagonists. The circus does not rest. The next novelty will be a World Cup with twice as many matches as the previous one. And what comes next?

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