The future of soccer could be fewer games and fewer top competitions to help avoid a financial crisis, Fifa president Gianni Infantino said in a newspaper interview published on Monday.

With football around the world in near-total shutdown and no end in sight because of the coronavirus pandemic, Infantino said the sport risked going into recession.

“Maybe we can reform world football by taking a step back,” Infantino said in the interview with Italian daily Gazzetta dello Sport published on his 50th birthday.

“There needs to be an evaluation of the global impact,” the Fifa president said. “Let’s all together save soccer from a crisis that risks becoming irreversible.”

Infantino said different formats could be an answer, with “fewer, but more interesting tournaments. Maybe fewer squads, but more balance.”

Before the pandemic, Infantino added to the congested football calendar by expanding the World Cup from 32 to 48 teams for the 2026 edition, and by trying to launch a 24-team Club World Cup next year.

The inaugural edition of the latter tournament in China was delayed last week after Uefa and South American soccer body Conmebol postponed their championships by one year to 2021.

Spanish football

The Spanish football calendar has been postponed until further notice, La Liga and the Spanish football federation (RFEF) said in a joint statement on Monday.

All organised football in Spain had been postponed for two weeks due to the spread of the coronavirus but was initially due to resume on April 3.

The statement said a joint commission between the two bodies had agreed to postpone all professional soccer competitions until the Spanish government considered they could start again “without creating any health risk”.