Fifa's plan to sell a share of the World Cup's commercial rights to outside investors is not an isolated move but the latest step in a long-running drive by president Gianni Infantino to expand football's competitions and grow the revenue they generate. Since his surprise election in 2016, promising reform after the Sepp Blatter era, Infantino has consistently pursued growth and funding increases, and this pattern helps explain why the sale plan was announced without consultation with football's wider stakeholders.

The article traces a timeline of expansionist moves: proposals in 2016 to enlarge the World Cup, confirmation in 2017 that the 2026 tournament would grow to 48 teams, a 2018 push for a global Nations League, a 2021 plan for a biennial World Cup, the launch and proposed expansion of a 32-team Club World Cup, the uncontested award of the 2034 World Cup to Saudi Arabia, and the 2030 tournament being spread across three continents and six host nations, with talk of expanding it to 64 teams. The piece questions what continues to drive Infantino's appetite for growth, noting he has already roughly trebled Fifa's revenues since taking office, and suggests patronage from redistributed funds helps secure support for his continued leadership.