New criticism of plans to stage a World Cup every two years has appeared from an unexpected source: the chief executive of one of Fifa’s main sponsors, Adidas.
Kasper Rørsted, whose views carry great weight in sport, has joined a growing number within football in voicing scepticism of the plans, which could be approved by Fifa before the end of the year.
In an interview with the Swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Rørsted said:
“I don’t think much of a football World Cup held every two years. There’s a European Championship here, there’s a Copa América in Latin America. One should also leave space for other things.
“I am a passionate football fan … but I think it is important that not only football is shown on television but also biathlon, skiing, tennis or handball. If you push just one product heavily it is not good for any product.”
Adidas has a history with Fifa that dates back to the World Cup of 1970 in Mexico. It creates the ball for each tournament and is a top-tier sponsor along with companies such as Coca-Cola and Visa. It maintained its links with Fifa despite the scandals that engulfed the former president Sepp Blatter and its deal extends to the centennial World Cup of 2030. Adidas is also a sponsor of Uefa, which has led criticism of the biennial World Cup.
On Tuesday Fifa’s president, Gianni Infantino, defended his proposal. “The prestige of an event depends on its quality, not its frequency,” he said. “You have the Super Bowl every year, Wimbledon or the Champions League every year, and everyone is excited and waiting for it.”
Rørsted, in a wide-ranging interview that also addressed the political situation in Adidas’s home territory of Germany, raised an eyebrow at a number of aspects of the game at large. He said a European Super League would be bad for the long-term health of football, despite short-term benefits.
“Financially, the Super League would probably be attractive for us,” he said. “In the long term, however, we believe that the love for sport from childhood arises from having access and it is something tangible.
“It is important for us that children have access to the stadiums and see their stars, not often, but every now and then. The competitions are not intended to be elitist events that can only be seen on television.”
Rørsted also said he believed the growth in sponsorship of clubs and players had reached its limits “apart from a few exceptions”, owing to the predictability of the outcomes.
Fans “do not want to see the same master over and over again”, he said. “When Leicester won the Premier League a few years ago, they said: ‘Great.’ The enthusiasm was similar when Lille won the league in France this year. There is a lust for the underdog to win.”
Uefa, meanwhile, has set out its plans for the hosting of Euro 2028 – a tournament which would clash with the first of Fifa’s biennial World Cups if those proposals are approved. European football’s governing body said the competition in seven years’ time was set to feature 24 teams, the same as the past two European Championship finals tournaments, but the number of participating countries could be increased to 32 with competition regulations yet to have been fixed.
Uefa will invite single or joint bids, but only two countries will be afforded automatic qualification.