When Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan had been granted the rights to host the 2027 FIFA U20 World Cup on the expense of Brazil, it got here as an entire shock to many soccer watchers. Not due to Uzbekistan, however due to the inclusion of Azerbaijan. If Uzbekistan had been granted the rights as sole hosts, it will nonetheless have made sense, as Uzbekistan can achieve this from a place of power, constructed from their consistency in Asian youth soccer. However the inclusion of Azerbaijan, which has by no means even made a U19 European Championship debut since independence, and can now play within the match not by capacity however by free ticket, was the ultimate straw.
Azerbaijan, ruled by Ilham Aliyev’s dictatorship, has used UEFA membership to fulfill its personal greed for phantom soccer fairly than pursuing lifelike grassroots improvement. This was greatest illustrated at UEFA Euro 2020, when Azerbaijan was appointed as one of many eleven host nations for the match. But the Azerbaijani senior nationwide workforce not solely didn’t qualify, however didn’t even make the qualification playoffs, shedding seven out of eight video games, with solely a stunning 1-1 draw in opposition to Croatia at dwelling as comfort. Their 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying marketing campaign additionally reveals no signal of enchancment. A surprising 1-1 dwelling draw with Ukraine would possibly show to be their solely spotlight, with France clearly superior and Iceland ready after having already smashed the Azeris 5-0 on dwelling soil.
Gianni Infantino (Picture by Francois Nel/Getty Photos)
So how did a nation with an entire incapacity to rework itself right into a soccer energy find yourself internet hosting its first main FIFA match with out proving its value? The one reply lies with Gianni Infantino. As an alternative of contemplating Brazil, a extra dependable candidate, or questioning Azerbaijan’s functionality, he determined to snub the five-time world champions and hand the match to the oil-rich Caucasus nation as a cover-up for Azerbaijan’s soccer incompetence. To not point out, Azerbaijan’s internet hosting might pose hazard to Armenia, their neighbour to the west, with whom they’re nonetheless technically at battle.
But the ugliest half is that this isn’t the one time Infantino has undermined the soccer ecosystem. He’s identified for his friendships with autocrats and for enabling them to train even better energy. Underneath his tenure, soccer tournaments haven’t solely been corrupted but in addition mismanaged to fulfill the greed of unsustainable planning.
The FIFA U17 World Cup is among the victims of Infantino’s mishandled technique. Quite than respecting younger gamers’ proper to a balanced life, he compelled the match to change into an annual occasion with an expanded 48-team format. The result’s an outsized competitors, stripped of goal, that fails to contemplate the bodily, psychological, and academic stability of the younger gamers. The overcrowded schedule has harmed stamina and improvement, which is why solely Qatar was keen to host it for 5 consecutive seasons.
Infantino’s disregard for stability was additionally on show within the weird 2030 FIFA World Cup association, the place Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay had been granted symbolic internet hosting rights alongside Spain, Morocco, and Portugal, leaving out Chile, one of many 4 unique South American bidders. He’s now planning to broaden the match to 64 groups by 2030, regardless of the already congested soccer calendar. This seems to be a transfer to speed up his ambitions of attracting the Chinese language market and to assist China both qualify for or host a World Cup within the close to future.
Former FIFA President Sepp Blatter as soon as gave Azerbaijan the rights to host the FIFA U20 Girls’s World Cup in 2012, but girls’s soccer in Azerbaijan stays irrelevant greater than a decade later. Infantino now appears intent on dragging FIFA additional down the identical damaging path. By granting Azerbaijan the 2027 FIFA U20 World Cup, he has as soon as once more revealed his mentality, the place participant welfare and improvement are disregarded in favour of cash and energy.
It’s time so that you can step down, Infantino. Soccer deserves leaders who perceive the right way to nurture and stability the sport, not those that exploit it for private and political acquire.
