He FIFA President Gianni Infantino, assured that “health must be the number one priority” for the return of the public to the stadiums, which will need protocols agreed between the sector and the health authorities.
“Football is a living spectacle. Without all the spectators, football is not the same, but health must be the number one priority and we have to find protocols that allow us to return. I have faith, the future is bright and the new normal will be better than the old one. You have to find a balance between health, football and all business considerations, “he said.
Infantino marked the return of the public to the fields as one of the great challenges facing football at this time during his speech on the last day of the 'Soccerex Connected' virtual forum, in which he invited to open a debate on the international calendar and on the future of this sport.
“We must work together in the right direction and ask the right questions. Do all our competitions interest the fans? Are there too many competitions or not? and ask ourselves about women's football, for how many games a professional footballer can play per season and what he needs to rest, “he said.
The president advocated “balancing competitiveness on the international calendar” and also shorten the differences that exist with “the objective” that there will be “50 countries that have the option to lift the World Cup, not just five or 6 and that there are 50 clubs that could be the best in the world.”
“Our new Club World Cup will improve football. We firmly believe in this”, he pointed.
Among his priorities, Infantino also highlighted the fight against corruption-“no more corruption in football”-, match fixing and abuses “, while opting for” modernization by being inclusive and improving “.
“We have the platform and we have to listen to each other” insisted after stating that FIFA has proven to be at the service of football during the COVID-19 pandemic, in which it has been able to allocate 1.5 billion dollars for associations and confederations, thanks to “its solid financial situation” and “the money in FIFA now goes where it should go. “