COMMENT
At least FIFA president Gianni Infantino can honestly say, unlike most politicians, that he fulfils the promises made during election campaigns. The Swiss head of the international football governing body vowed to expand the World Cup to 48 teams as he succeeded the disgraced Sepp Blatter, and that now seems a formality with Wednesday's apparent confirmation of his latest proposal.
The problem is, however, that the idea of engrossing the ranks of qualifiers to an unwieldy number just short of the half-century is a flawed concept in theory, and in practice likely to devalue what is currently one of the world's most prestigious, lucrative single sporting events.