Lausanne (AFP)
Fifa announced on Tuesday the cancellation of a meeting of its Council scheduled for March in Asuncion (Paraguay), stronghold of the South American Football Confederation, and its replacement by a meeting by videoconference from its headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland .
"At the request of several of its members, the meeting originally scheduled for Asuncion will be held by videoconference on March 20 from Zurich," Fifa said in a statement.
Members who wish to physically participate in the meeting "are welcome," added the panel.
According to various sources, some Asian members have mentioned the difficulty of traveling during the coronavirus crisis. In addition, the meeting agenda "is not very rich," according to a source familiar with the matter.
The cancellation of this meeting planned in the stronghold of the President of the South American Football Confederation (Conmebol), Alejandro Dominguez, also Vice-President of Fifa, comes in a climate of tensions between Fifa and several confederations, including the Conmebol.
A meeting was thus held last Wednesday in Switzerland between the Councils of UEFA and Conmebol, two confederations which are moved by the lack of transparency of the boss of Fifa, Gianni Infantino and his interventionism near the clubs. The purpose of this meeting was in particular to discuss "the future of competitions".
According to concordant sources, Dominguez would not have appreciated that Infantino would go directly to negotiate with the South American clubs for their participation in the Club World Cup, the first edition of which in a formula extended to 24 clubs will take place in 2021 in China.
Another meeting of the Fifa Council is scheduled in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) in early June, just before the 70th congress of the body. Since the election of Infantino to the presidency of Fifa, numerous meetings of the Council have taken place outside Zurich, in Bogota, Shanghai (China), Calcutta (India) or even Kigali (Rwanda).
© 2020 AFP