Is Fifa’s football expansion putting money before planet?

24 Feb, 2023 - 00:02 0 Views
Is Fifa’s football expansion putting money before planet?

The ManicaPost

 

LAST week Fifa president Gianni Infantino announced record revenues in excess of $7.6bn (£6.3bn) — with football’s governing body also confirming plans for further expansion and growth.

But does big money for the global game come at a big cost to the planet?

 

And does that fit with Fifa’s statements on sustainability and emissions reductions?

Fifa’s expansion plans include:

§ Confirmed expansion of the men’s Club World Cup from seven teams to 32

§ Growing the men’s World Cup from 32 teams to 48 and staging it across a continent in 2026

§ Increasing the number of teams at the Women’s World Cup from 24 to 32

§ Hosting an entirely new Women’s World Cup qualifying tournament for 10 teams in New Zealand

§ Plans to introduce a new women’s Club World Cup Fifa’s claim that the Qatar World Cup was carbon neutral was considered by experts to be “misleading and dangerous”, and its plans for further expansion come in spite of the fact Fifa’s environmental strategy includes having signed up to the UN Sport for Climate Action Framework — with a target of net zero by 2040 and halving of emissions by 2030.

The majority of sport’s carbon footprint comes from fan travel.

 

Last year Fifa estimated about one million supporters would travel to Qatar for the men’s World Cup — and more teams in 2026 will mean more fans, with the same applying to the expanded Club World Cup.

Wycombe Wanderers player David Wheeler, the Professional Footballer’s Association sustainability champion, described the 2026 World Cup logistics as a “nonsense” and a “money-making exercise”.

He also questioned the quality of the football in expanded tournaments such as the Club World Cup, comparing it to “junk food”.

“We’re damaging the climate — the climate is sick and potentially terminally ill,” said Wheeler.

“We know how to reverse course, but instead we’re doing the very thing that’s making it sick and that’s what I think Fifa is suggesting to do”.

In the women’s game there are fewer travelling fans compared with the men’s, but the number is growing and Fifa has announced more than half a million ticket sales for this summer’s Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

However, a newly created qualifying tournament — with 10 teams flying to New Zealand for 13 new games in the calendar to decide the final three places — has been called “unnecessary”.
— BBCsport.

 

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