Mr. Gianni Infantino – President of Federation of International Football Association (FIFA), has described the 2022 FIFA World Cup hosted by Qatar, as the best-ever.
“For nearly a month during which football reinforced its unique cohesive power by uniting the world in a spirit of peace and friendship,” Mr. Infantino said at a press conference in Doha, the capital of Qatar on Friday.
This comes at the back of a series of criticism launched on Qatar, after they were handed the right to host the competition, with 32 countries participating.
Qatar has so far successfully executed the competition without any flaws with Argentina and France set to compete for the ultimate trophy on Sunday, at the Lusail Stadium.
Morocco would take on Croatia in a third-place match on Saturday, December 17, at the Khalifa International Stadium.
Touching on other competitions, Mr. Infantino also announced that the current international match calendar structure would remain unchanged until 2025, with the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2027 and 2031 hosts to be decided in 2024 and 2025 respectively.
He added that FIFA had created Women’s Club World Cup and Futsal Women’s World Cup, as well as the expansion of the Olympic Games Women’s tournament from 12 to 16 teams have also been endorsed.
Mr. Infantino added that there were new proposals to revise FIFA’s youth tournament inventory – including expanded annual Under-17 tournaments, both for boys and girls.
“In establishing the details of the new international match calendars, due consideration shall be given to the players’ health and well-being as a primary goal.
“All of the above key strategic principles will be detailed in consultation with the relevant stakeholders in the coming months.” He added.
