"Does FIFA Care More About Money Than Football?" Calls for Resignation Intensify

[Anchor]

A fierce backlash is sweeping through the global football community following the conclusion of the North and Central American World Cup. Amid criticisms that FIFA President Gianni Infantino has failed to maintain "political neutrality" and is overly focused on commercialization, calls for his resignation are growing, centered around European football.

Reporter Pyeon Gwanghyeon has the details.

[Reporter]

Javier Tebas, president of Spain's La Liga, demanded FIFA President Gianni Infantino's resignation in an interview with Italian media, stating, "FIFA only looks after its own profits and does not consider football."

Sepp Blatter, the former FIFA president whose tenure was plagued by persistent corruption allegations, also joined the chorus of criticism, claiming that politics is swallowing up football. Meanwhile, UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin boycotted the final in protest against FIFA.

The grievances against President Infantino stem from "violations of political neutrality" and "excessive commercialization."

Frustrations have boiled over due to a series of controversial decisions: caving to the influence of U.S. President Donald Trump by suspending a disciplinary ban on U.S. forward Folarin Balogun, introducing "hydration breaks" to boost advertising revenue, and extending the traditionally maximum 15-minute halftime to 27 minutes for a final match performance.

Indeed, FIFA raked in massive revenues through this World Cup.

With the expansion of participating nations adding 40 more matches, total tournament attendance surpassed a record-breaking 6.81 million. Benefiting from increased broadcasting rights and ticket sales, FIFA is estimated to have generated a record 15 billion dollars, approximately 22 trillion won.

[Gianni Infantino / FIFA President: It was a perfect World Cup that would be difficult to even write as a movie script. We need to coin a new word to define this success.]

While calls for his resignation are mounting in Europe, President Infantino appears unfazed.

Ahead of the presidential election in March next year, he is pushing to expand the tournament to 64 teams to boost FIFA revenues and secure backing from smaller football nations that welcome tournament expansion. This has heightened concerns that FIFA is prioritizing the logic of capital over the intrinsic values of sports.

(Video Editing: Park Chun-bae, Design: Jeon Yu-geun)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.