FIFA plans to multiply and set up in different regions of the world

The automatic relationship between FIFA and Switzerland has an expiration date: world soccer’s governing body is finalizing a plan to have a presence in several regions of the world, and not just in the United States, as some of the international press reported this week.

“FIFA is a global organization, it is going to be spread around the world in strategic locations,” a FIFA source involved in the plans being developed by the organization chaired by Gianni Infantino told Around the Rings.

“The New York Times” reported this week that FIFA will move part of its operations to the United States.

“Looking to expand its global footprint beyond its cloistered headquarters next to a zoo on the outskirts of Zurich, soccer’s governing body, FIFA, is studying the feasibility of moving its financial engine, the commercial operation that produces billions of dollars in revenues for the organization, to the United States.”

“Nothing has been decided, but there are options,” added the FIFA source privy to Infantino’s plans. “There is already an office in Paris.”

Africa, Asia, Latin America and other parts of the world will host new FIFA offices, which in some cases will be in charge of specific functions and in others will fulfill roles more similar to those of an “embassy” of world soccer’s governing body.

The decentralization of FIFA, which has been headquartered in Zurich since 1932, began months ago with the opening of an office in Paris.

“Our aim of making football truly global also means that FIFA itself needs to have a more balanced and global organizational set up,” President Gianni Infantino said when the Paris office opened.

Beyond the fact that FIFA has been in Switzerland for nine decades, the “razzia” organized in May 2015 by the FBI brings back bad memories for world soccer’s governing body, which has been working to improve its image and has managed to recover money from the corruption of those years.

Switzerland is home to the overwhelming majority of the world’s sports federations, as well as the International Olympic Committee (IOC), based in Lausanne.

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