Fifa president Gianni Infantino says up to four countries could co-host 2026 World Cup
World football needed a new Fifa in the wake of Sepp Blatter's relentless cronyism and corruption, but Gianni Infantino's reign as the president of Fifa continues to baffle with his latest declarations suggesting World Cups could be split between as many as four countries from 2026.
While to some extent there is a justification, given the sorry state of Brazil and Greece after staging recent Olympiads and World Cups, it appears to be yet another vote-grabbing policy from world football's governing body that doesn't necessarily have the game's best interests front and centre.
"We will encourage co-hosting for the World Cup because we need Fifa to show we are reasonable and we have to think about sustainability long-term," Infantino said on Thursday.
"(We could) ...maybe bring together two, three, four countries who can jointly present a project with three, four, five stadiums each. We will certainly encourage it. Ideally the countries will be close to each other."
His remarks could open the way to a joint bid from the United States, Canada and Mexico, which have already said they intend to hold discussions over the possibility. This would be huge for Fifa in terms of sponsorships and growing their already huge tax-free revenues from organising football's most prestigious international competition.
At the end of last year Victor Montagliani, president of the Concacaf federation that the three countries belong to, said he expected formal discussions to start once "all the rules and regulations" related to the bid were announced. Donald Trump's presidency could, however, derail such plans.
Concern has - legitimately - been raised about the financial burden placed on a single tournament host, and the bad publicity generated by White Elephant stadiums built and then abandoned after use.
The only time Fifa has previously sanctioned co-hosting was in 2002 when Japan and South Korea staged a tournament that was widely heralded as a success.
The idea has taken off at the European Championship, with Belgium and the Netherlands co-hosting in 2000, Austria and Switzerland in 2008 and Poland and Ukraine in 2012.
But once again there are fears things have been taken to excess by Uefa, with the next tournament in 2020 designated as Pan-European and due to be staged in 13 cities in 13 counties.
Swedish FA chair Karl-Erik Nilsson quickly backed co-hosting for the World Cup too.
"It's a good idea, and Europe has of course previously worked in this way on the European Championships," he said.
"We are used to it and it works well, it makes it possible for more countries to arrange (tournaments), and in that way it is positive."
But Nilsson knows that this opens the door for a joint Scandinavian bid, making him an obvious advocate. And there is likely to be opposition from fans' groups, given the higher cost involved in following a team through different countries.
Joint hosting could also raise security concerns.
