If Gianni Infantino is going to destroy football as we know it, is it really so much to ask that he include women in the plans?
Yes, in a move to secure “financial growth” but in fact if successful will cripple continental and club football as well as excise what soul remains of the World Cup, Fifa has submitted a 25-page sales pitch to all its 211 member organisations that includes just a single mention of the women’s game.
Sell off tournaments to private investors, flog the rights to tech companies and streamers, ramp up ticket prices so only influencers and the super-rich can afford to watch, stage the World Cup every two years, damage domestic leagues as well as the players’ bodies – no proposal is too radical nor too mercenary for Infantino and his pursuit of a buck.
But involving women or daring to imagine they might contribute to the sport’s commercial future is apparently where he draws the line.
Women’s football isn’t just an afterthought of his plans – it will be their first casualty.
