Inside Fifa’s grand plan for after the Club World Cup

Gianni Infantino has been delighted with how his revamped tournament has gone, writes Miguel Delaney, but even bigger schemes are afoot for the controversial Fifa president

- Miguel Delaney

At MetLife Stadium on Wednesday, Gianni Infantino was walking around with a grin fixed to his face, looking to shake everyone’s hand. The Fifa president was essentially basking in how the Club World Cup had gone, and he was in a similar mood at the opening of the Fifa Office in New York’s Trump Tower the day before. If most of the focus there has been on the deepening of the relationship between Infantino and Donald Trump, senior football figures are shocked by another element.

The Fifa president has chosen the very building where US authorities approached Chuck Blazer and started the process of “flipping him”. The disgraced football official notoriously had two apartments in Trump Tower, including one for his cats, where he embezzled all of his money. Blazer’s evidence would ultimately bring down “the old Fifa” in 2015.

That was how Infantino rose to president the next year, making the symbolism remarkable. Fifa, of course, maintains this shift shows how far it’s come. Other figures feel it shows how the football world is being turned upside down.

Another description of Infantino this week is that he has been behaving like “a founder” - a Mark Zuckerberg or Jeff Bezos. In that light, it’s hard not to think he sees himself as the founder of the new Club World Cup.

Whether the tournament has actually been worth such celebration depends on your perspective, not least what continent you're from.

South Americans have loved it, some big games have sold out, and there have been decent viewing figures on free-to-air channels. The response has still been lukewarm in Europe, with empty seats visible, while there haven't exactly been many memorable moments.