Gianni Infantino's desire would be close to being realized: the expansion of the Club World Cup to 48 teams starting in 2029. According to The Guardian, UEFA decided not to block the proposal from the FIFA, even though it had initially opposed it because it considered that it could affect the status and commercial appeal of the Champions League.
The body chaired by Aleksander Ceferin changed its stance under a key condition: that the tournament continues to be played every four years and doesn't adopt a biennial format, as Real Madrid had suggested in previous talks. For UEFA, accepting more participants is a "lesser evil" compared with the possibility of increasing the frequency of the tournament, something that caused greater resistance both in the leagues and in European clubs.
The decision also marks a political rapprochement between Ceferin and the FIFA president, whose relationship went through tensions in recent years due to disagreements related to the calendar and the governance of international soccer. The signal of support for the new format appears as a gesture of de-escalation in that context.
