Japan and Morocco square up against old order giants as they forge path to brave new world

The World Cup exists in a state of perpetual flux. It goes to new territories. It gets bigger. It experiments with second group phases and replaces playoffs for sides level on points with goal difference then head-to-head. And still one of the same eight countries from western Europe or South America wins it.

- Jonathan Wilson

Since Argentina in 1978, there have been two new winners, and those were France and Spain, from the heart of Uefa, their success based on maximising the advantages of being European and wealthy; no countries have been so successful at industrialising youth production, so much so that they now provide the models for every country seeking to invest in academy programmes.

Yet it feels that the old world has never been so at odds with the game’s leadership. Gianni Infantino portrays himself as a champion of the global south and, just like his two predecessors as Fifa president, Sepp Blatter and Joao Havelange, it is voters from Africa, Asia and Latin America who sustain him in power.

The horrendous treatment of migrant workers in Qatar and that fans, journalists, team officials and even a referee have been denied entry to the US and Canada make no impact on Infantino’s popularity; the delegates have their salaries and expenses, their committee posts and stipends, and none are going to rock the boat.

The expanded Club World Cup may have provided useful revenue to the certain western European superclubs, but it still represents the latest front in Infantino’s continuing power struggle with Uefa. Perhaps Europe, under more dynamic leadership, could mount a challenge to Fifa, but Aleksander Ceferin’s Uefa has so far restricted itself to little more than trolling: announcing a freeze on Euro 2028 ticket prices; appointing Omar Artan, the Somali official stopped at the airport in Miami, to referee the Super Cup final; insisting hydration breaks will not be mandatory in Uefa competition.