The Changes in Football Since Gianni infantino became FIFA President
- FIFA president’s reform in football
- Explaining GLT and VAR
- Explaining the New Champions League format
Football (Soccer) is highly regarded as the most-watched sport in the world with an audience of over 3.7 billion followers as of 2024. The International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) is the governing body that oversees the round leather game.
The federating council was established in 1904 and it is responsible for the rules and regulations of the beautiful sports as well as hosting football competitions. Since it creation, there have been nine (9) elected FIFA presidents and three (3) acting presidents.
The current FIFA president, Gianni Infantino resumed his role as head of the governing council in February 2016 after his predecessor, Sepp Blatter who was embroiled in a mesh of corruption cases was ousted.
Gianni Infantino who was a keen member of football governing body and was conversant with the modus operandi of the beautiful game promised to restore the lost glory of football if elected into office.
He faced steep competition from candidates around the world in the run to become FIFA president. Especially a particular candidate from Saudi Arabia who was determined to be the leader of the round leather game.
But after many campaigns and consultations, Infantino was elected the president and the Swiss-Italian national has introduced a handful of reforms to the game of football. He sought re-elections on two occasions in 2019 and 2023, and won the bids on both occasions.
Gianni Infantino Reforms in Football (Soccer)
During his bid to become president, Infantino proposed to reform the game in order to win back the trust of fans who have become doubtful of the authenticity of the sport. The game had been embroiled in a series of match-fixing scandals.
Scandals like the Calciopoli in Italy and match-fixing in Brazil and Africa had tainted the image of the sport and impacted the confidence of investors. Football had lost so much and was on the decline before Gianni Infantino and his team came on board.
The Swiss-Italian-born sports administrator introduced a handful of reforms that have once again restored the hope of investors and set the sports of football on the right path to great heights. Some of the reforms include but are not limited to the following;
Introduction of Goal Line Technology (GLT)
The call for Goal Line Technology (GLT) became loud and incessant following a series of controversies on goal-line clearance. Many teams felt they were been cheated after seeing their goals not given due to late clearance from their opponent.
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Football Governing Council then found it necessary and long overdue to implement the GLT. This is how the technology works. A special camera is installed on both ends of the field such that when the ball crosses the goal line, it sends a signal to the GLT system and the referee receives the processed information on his wristwatch.
If the ball fails to cross the line, the referee sees a signal that says no goal but when it is a goal, the referee’s modified wristwatch vibrates and signals a goal. Goal Line Technology has helped mitigate controversies about goals in countries that have the technology in place.
FIFA Introduces of Video Assistant Referee (VAR)
The Video Assistant Referee (VAR) was already in place in sports like Tennis, where the referee sometimes pause a game to review a monitor in times of dispute. The VAR became necessary to check offsides and fouls the referee might have missed.
It also allows the referee to review decisions made at the spur of the moment. Since its introduction, they have been mixed feelings about the technology with many fans applauding the tech while others have some reservations about the technology.
The increase in the number of game substitutions.
Over the years, the number of substitutions a team is allowed to make during games is three (3). The number is limited and causes lots of exhaustion and injuries. Gianni Infantino led FIFA and has since increased the number to five (5).
The increase comes with a lot of advantages for the players. It means more game time for every member of the team and less frequent injuries. Players sometimes sustain injuries as a result of exhaustion which results from playing football every three days without adequate rest.
Coaches now have the luxury of featuring more fringe players and resting their star players in the dying minutes of games. The increase also has some monetary benefits as more game times means more match bonuses for fringe players.
Introduction of Nations League
The Nations League is more of a UEFA creation but some credit has to be given to the Football Governing Council and Gianni Infantino who approved the competition. As the name implies, the Nations League is a friendly competition where nations organized in groups compete for a league title.
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It is played during the international break and Portugal, led by Cristiano Ronaldo was the first team to win the competition. The Nation’s League has been received with mixed feelings and reactions since its creation.
Many fans of the beautiful game see the competition as an offshoot of the UEFA European Cup played every four years. They argue that the Nation’s league is taking the shine away from the European Cup.
On the flip side, they are supporters who see nothing wrong with the competition. Some of these supporters prefer watching international football to sports football and continue to clamour for more international games.
The players have also expressed mixed reactions. Some players like Kelvin Debruyne think the competition is boring and should be scrapped. He cited facing similar international opponents every year to be boring and not good for the sports.
While some players are indifferent about the competition. Gianni Infantino has helped revamp the game by introducing a series of reforms and football has become interesting and transparent to fans.
The UEFA Champions League New Format by FIFA
The UEFA Champions League is not left out of the reform. The competition recently saw some changes in it format. The usual group stage that fans were accustomed to has been phased out and a new format has been introduced.
In this new format, teams don’t play home and away with the same opponents, rather, they play just once with several opponents and the top eight (8) teams with the most points are qualified automatically for the knockout rounds.
The 9th to 24th teams (16 teams) compete in playoffs and teams that qualify from the playoffs go on to compete against the top eight teams with automatic qualifications. The system is newly introduced and will become understandable as the season progresses.
Also, the Europa League and the European Conference League use the new championship league method where the first eight teams progress automatically.
Visit the Fifa official site to learn more about the new championship format
