{"id":537691,"date":"2026-07-21T23:59:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T23:59:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/537691\/"},"modified":"2026-07-21T23:59:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T23:59:17","slug":"spanish-football-league-boss-launches-scathing-criticism-of-fifa-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/537691\/","title":{"rendered":"Spanish football league boss launches scathing criticism of FIFA president"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gianni Infantino should resign as head of FIFA for \u201cdestroying the football industry\u201d by expanding international competitions, La Liga president Javier Tebas said.<\/p>\n

It is not the first time he has lashed out at Infantino over fixture congestion and for considering a proposal to expand the 2030 men’s World Cup from 48 teams to 64.<\/p>\n

\u201cIncreasing the number of national teams makes no sense. The football industry isn\u2019t just the World Cup, which is the most important event. But not everything can revolve around the World Cup,\u201d Tebas told La Gazzetta dello Sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my opinion, yes, I think his time is up,\u201d he said of Infantino. \u201cHowever, he has the support of the system and the federations, so there\u2019s not much more to add, is there? There\u2019s no opposition candidate. Nobody wants to stand just to lose. This is the system, and it\u2019s rotten at its core.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe shouldn\u2019t stay, but he won\u2019t leave. I\u2019ve heard many people who are against Infantino. They say it, but then they do nothing. I don\u2019t know what\u2019s worse, the silence or the complicity, because those who stay silent are perfectly aware of the damage football is suffering.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The president of La Liga, Javier Tebas (Source: Getty)<\/p>\n

South American football\u2019s ruling body CONMEBOL has made an official proposal to expand the 2030 World Cup<\/a> to 64 teams. The competition is already set to be the most sprawling edition with six host nations spread across three continents.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s national competition that sustains this sport,” Tebas added. “They are destroying the football industry, which generates tens of thousands of jobs, for an event that lasts 40 days and involves a minority of players.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also criticised world football\u2019s governing body FIFA over the new hydration breaks implemented at the World Cup, which ended Monday, as well as the extended 27-minute halftime interval \u2014 rather than the standard 15 \u2014 during the final that saw Spain defeat Argentina<\/a> 1-0.<\/p>\n

The hydration breaks midway through each half were introduced to help players deal with the summer heat in the United States, Canada and Mexico. But critics say they had unintended consequences, ruining the flow of the game and giving coaches a chance to tactically shift momentum in their team\u2019s favour.<\/p>\n

\"Norway<\/p>\n

Norway head coach Stale Solbakken, in white shirt, talks to the team during a hydration break during the World Cup quarterfinal match between Norway and England. (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n

\u201cFIFA arranges things as it pleases, for what it wants, for its own interests \u2014 certainly not for football,\u201d Tebas said. \u201cHydration breaks are a lie. We have them in La Liga, but only when it\u2019s genuinely hot. Here, the pitches in Dallas, Los Angeles, and Atlanta had air conditioning. It was a lie \u2014 and just a break for advertising.\u201d<\/p>\n

Infantino announced in April that he would run for re-election<\/a> for a fourth term as president. The vote for the 2027\u20132031 period is scheduled for March 18 in Morocco.<\/p>\n

The Football Supporters Europe group also called on the wider football community to hold FIFA to account.<\/p>\n

In a statement on its website headlined \u201cA World Cup that failed supporters\u201d, the FSE demanded \u201cstructural governance reforms to hand decision-making power back to the FIFA Council and Congress and ensure full consultation with clubs, leagues, players and supporters\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

Rodri #16 of Spain lifts the FIFA World Cup Winner\u2019s Trophy after the team\u2019s victory following the FIFA World Cup 2026 Final match between Spain and Argentina. (Source: Getty)<\/p>\n

It added: \u201cThe 2026 World Cup should have been a celebration of the game and the supporters who give it life. Instead, it has too often become a case study in what is so deeply wrong with football today.<\/p>\n

“From the outset, supporters were asked to place their trust in FIFA and \u201cchill\u201d, but it prioritised spectacle and commercialisation over the match-going experience, with key elements of football\u2019s identity being messed with. Over the last month, we’ve seen football contorted to the whim of Gianni Infantino and the Trump administration.\u201d<\/p>\n

The FSE, accepted by European soccer’s governing body UEFA as the recognised group representing fans in the region, then went on to attack \u201chistorically high ticket prices\u201d and \u201cskyrocketing transportation costs, bending of rules and procedures, exclusion of swathes of the global population and a lack of transparent communication”.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll this created an environment of confusion and distrust that has severely damaged the reputation of FIFA, the World Cup, and the integrity of football itself.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe lessons from this World Cup are clear: FIFA is unfit to govern global football. The future of the game cannot rest in the hands of a man who has proven yet again that he puts financial and political interests ahead of the future of our game.\u201d<\/p>\n

The morning’s headlines in 90 seconds, including ongoing support amid high inflation, and Robbie Williams comes clean about a viral moment. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gianni Infantino should resign as head of FIFA for \u201cdestroying the football industry\u201d by expanding international competitions, La…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":537692,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[2966,111,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-537691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-fifa-world-cup","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=537691"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537691\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/537692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=537691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=537691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=537691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}