IT is difficult to devalue something priceless but Sepp Blatter may yet manage that if he gets his way with the World Cup.
Voted in as president of FIFA to protect and promote football, his latest half-baked idea is akin to a jeweller leaving the door of his shop open and issuing an invitation to thieves to enter.
The World Cup is the greatest sporting event on Earth. It is without equal and no small part of its allure is the fact that it remains relatively rare. Under various names and guises we have intercontinental football tournaments yearly, superb club events and continental showdowns.
But there is only one World Cup. And it happens every four years.
FIFA has shown itself to be poor a custodian of what is best for football over the years and, even in recent months, its insistence on going ahead with a parody of a tournament, the Confederations Cup, shows little regard for one of its important tasks: protection of the interests of national associations.
Like so many other hybrid tournaments that have sprung up - various under whatever age World Championships spring to mind - the Confederations Cup is nothing more than a gross attempt at extracting money from the public in exchange for very little.