La Liga president slams FIFA over World Cup decisions
La Liga president Javier Tebas has strongly criticized FIFA, accusing its leadership of making decisions that serve personal interests rather than the interests of football.
Speaking to the Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport after returning from New York, where he attended the World Cup final in which Spain won the title, Tebas said many of FIFA's decisions during the tournament were driven by commercial motives, CE Report quotes MIA.
"FIFA organizes things as it sees fit, for its own interests, not for football. The hydration breaks were a farce. In La Liga, we only have them when temperatures are genuinely high. The stadiums in Dallas, Los Angeles, and Atlanta had air conditioning running, and I had to wear a sweater. It was an advertising break," Tebas said.
He was particularly critical of the case involving United States international Folarin Balogun, describing it as "extremely serious."
"They were lucky Belgium eliminated the United States, because otherwise there would have been a scandal that could have cost Gianni Infantino his job. Instead, the whole case has been swept under the rug, and this is only the tip of the iceberg," the La Liga president said.
Tebas argued that FIFA is neglecting the interests of domestic leagues and once again warned about the increasingly congested football calendar.
"We have been warning for years about the problem of the overcrowded calendar, and now they want to organize a World Cup with 64 national teams. It makes no sense," Tebas said.
Photo: FIFA
