News Digest

Vote me in for a 48-team World Cup, promises FIFA hopeful Luis Figo

Luis Figo would consider expanding the World Cup, possibly to 40 or even 48 teams, if he is elected FIFA president in May. The former Portugal winger, who played at two World Cups, said Thursday that the current 32-team tournament could be increased to 40 teams or FIFA could stage two 24-team competitions simultaneously on two continents followed by a knockout phase in one nation. Figo launched his manifesto on Thursday at Wembley Stadium as he tries to unseat Sepp Blatter, who is seeking a fifth, four-year term as president. FIFA vice president Prince Ali bin al-Hussein and Dutch football association chairman Michael van Praag are also candidates.

I will try to convince the people that vote, that FIFA really needs to change.

Luis Figo

Figo, the 2001 FIFA world player of the year, also proposes spreading half of FIFA’s $2.5 billion revenue over four years to associations to fund grassroots football. He said $1 billion of FIFA’s $1.5 billion cash reserves should be redistributed to the 209 national federations.  The election in May is a vote of those 209 members, and Blatter already has the support from the federations of Asia, Africa, South America and Oceania. ”There are obstacles that will have to be overcome,” said Figo, who played for Barcelona, Real Madrid and Inter Milan. But Figo is still hopeful of convincing voters to back him to repair FIFA, which has been reeling after years of corruption investigations.