Infantino praises Arab players, vows 48-team World Cup in 2026

Mohammad Abdullah, Staff Reporter

FIFA president Gianni Infantino was full of adulation and respect for the Arab players, who have proven their mettle around the world.

He praised the Arab players, who are scaling new heights and glorifying the names of their respective nations with stellar performances in the European Leagues.

“Arab world is a fantastic place, there are around 50 million people living in the Arab countries and they have some fantastic talents like that of Riyad Mahrez of Manchester City and Mohammed Salah of Liverpool,” said Infantino.

Both Mahrez and Salah have been instrumental in steering their teams to Premier League glory. Mahrez was the mainstay of Leicester City when they had a dream run and went on to win the title after gaining promotion to the top flight in the same year under the coach Claudio Ranieri.

He was speaking on the side lines of the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between UAE FA and Israel FA.

“It is not only the fantastic talent in the Arab world but a big passion, a big heart and those, who are dealing with the Arab world, they know that there is a lot of emotion involved,” he added.

“When we see around there’s a lot of emotion and a lot of investment as well, which has been made and I think in the future we will see a lot of surprises from the other Arab world.

“Even FIFA is embracing that. Next year we are going to have FIFA Arab Cup which involves 22 nations and I think that will give us the clear picture which is the best Arab country in terms of football.

“I think that the future will show us what the Arab world is capable of doing in football,” he elaborated.

22 national teams from the Arab region have signed up to participate in the FIFA Arab Cup, which will be staged from Dec.1-18, 2021.

The FIFA President had stated that he expected the regional tournament in 2021 to unite millions of football fans from across the Middle East and Arab world.

Talking about the expansion of the World Cup to 48 teams, the FIFA president said: “I think this will bring more participation from the other countries of the world as the football World Cup should be a celebration by the whole world not few selected countries.

“And we want in FIFA to integrate not to be exclusive in just one or two continents of the world. We want everyone to be the part of it and everyone to improve and I think this is the only way to improve,” he explained.

Since taking over as the FIFA chief from the disgraced former president Sepp Blatter Infantino has always advocated the idea of having more teams for the show piece event.

He also vowed to have a 48-team Word Cup in 2026 for the first time in the history of the game. He also said the dream of having an expanded World Cup will come true soon.

“In the 2026, we will have first ever 48-team World Cup. It is meant for everybody not only for one or two continents,” he asserted.

Infantino also claimed to be delighted to be a part of the signing of the historic accord between the football associations of the UAE and Israel.

“It is truly a historic moment. Often, we use historic but today we can use this word to its true meaning. Today is a historic day not only for football and but also society.

“My association with the UAE and Israel goes back to decades. I express gratitude to both the federations. It was a tough year but we see some light to the end of the tunnel now.

“When I witnessed the peace signing between the two countries at the White House three months ago and I could feel the history was written on that day, today it is being lived. After writing history, we have to live it also,” he concluded.

Meanwhile, the UAE FA president Sheikh Rashid Bin Humaid Al Nuaimi and his Israeli counterpart Oren Hossan were delighted after the signing of the MoU and vowed to carry on the association for a long time.

“It is a big step and will help in strengthening the relationship between the two federations. We hope it will also contribute to the development of the game in both the countries,” said Nuaimi.

Hossan was equally elated to be a part of the historic moment that will open the new avenues for both the countries and their players.

“I am very excited to be here and happy to be a part of the history. This cooperation will lead to the many more things in the future that could not be conceived till few months back. We hope to go along way and help each and support each other,” said Hossan.