President of FIFA Gianni Infantino has revealed that any player who will feature in the rumored European Super League risks being banned from the World Cup. This comes after German publication Der Spiegel professed that top clubs in Europe have held talks behind closed doors to create a tournament of such sort by 2021.
In the exposé, the plan in motion called for 11 teams from Spain, France, Germany, England and Italy to get ownership stakes and become members of the Super League for 20 years without any risks. In addition, five more clubs from those countries will also be invited to feature in the competition. The likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain, AC Milan, and Bayern Munich are believed to be among a host of notable clubs spearheading the cause.
On Wednesday, President Gianni Infantino established that players will not be able to participate in the breakaway tournament and still be eligible to be picked for matches by their respective national teams.
"We have seen for many years these attempts to break away outside of the structures, going back to the 1990s," he told some reporters at FIFA headquarters.
"You are either in or you are out. If there are players who don't play organized football then that encompasses everything - national leagues, confederation competitions, the Euros and the World Cup.
"It is up to us to protect football and come up with solutions that benefit clubs and also the world football community."
Furthermore, Infantino addressed recent claims which suggests that he manipulated the system to aid Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain's way out of harsh FFP sanctions at a point in his tenure as general secretary at UEFA.
"We were doing our job and saved the system and we saved European club football," Infantino added.
"We worked with the information we had at the time. If new information has come out, I'm sure UEFA will look at it."
