Grindel backs Club World Cup plans as he seeks new FIFA term

German Football Federation (DFB) president Grindel says it would make "more sense" to hold a Club World Cup every four years rather than annually, putting him broadly in line with his counterpart at FIFA, Gianni Infantino.

Grindel, who has come under fire in recent months for Germany's poor World Cup preformance and the fallout of Mesut Özil's international resignation, also wants to scrap the Confederations Cup, which Germany won in 2017, again in line with proposals Infantino made recently.

"I think it makes more sense to host the Club World Cup every four years instead of the Confederations Cup," he told an event on Wednesday evening in Traisa, in Germany.

The current Club World Cup, played every year in December and featuring the winner of each of the six continental confederations, has "little significance," Grindel said.

He said he had "always criticized" the Confederations Cup, which is held every four years in the year before a World Cup and played in the World Cup host country. After objections from European body UEFA, FIFA are looking in to different ways to revamp or scrap the Club World Cup and Conderations CUp respectively.

Grindel's support for Infantino's plans comes at the same time as news that he will seek a new term on the executive council of FIFA. He is now a UEFA candidate for a four-year term on the FIFA body. Two others, Fernando Gomes of Portugal and Georgios Koumas, are standing for two positions on two-year terms.

One man certain to get four more years in his job is Alexander Ceferin, with the UEFA president confirmed on Thursday as the only candidate for re-election to his post. 

mp/jcg (DPA, SID)