LONDON (AP) β The World Cup could be expanded by eight teams to 40 if Gianni Infantino is elected FIFA president.
Infantino, the face of European competition draws as UEFA’s secretary general, revealed his first plans to transform FIFA in an interview with The Associated Press after making a surprising late decision to enter the election.
European football scrambled to find a candidate as a substitute for Infantino’s boss, Michel Platini, after the UEFA president was provisionally suspended by FIFA. Platini is at risk of a long ban once the ethics probe into a 2011 payment from FIFA has been completed, which would make him ineligible for the Feb. 26 election.
Infantino insisted that if he is elected to lead FIFA he would not stand down if Platini later wins any appeals.
