Paul Kelso, Sports Correspondent
No matter what indignities are visited on the FA Cup, to some people it still matters above all else.
Take Nicolas Leoz. For two decades the Paraguayan was one of the most powerful men in football.
He had a seat for his ample frame alongside Sepp Blatter on FIFA's Executive Committee and his fingers in every profitable pie in the South American game.
But even with his choice of the best games in the world, Old Nic loved the old pot.
He loved it so much that when England's 2018 World Cup bid came knocking for his vote, Leoz offered his support on one condition: they name the FA Cup after him.
In one of the few sure-footed moves of a doomed campaign they declined, but it was not the first time FIFA's interests impacted on the FA Cup.In 2000 the FA encouraged holders Manchester United to skip their defence of the competition so they could contest the FIFA World Club Cup, a move intended to win Blatter's favour for their 2006 World Cup bid.
It was a fruitless, self-harming gesture.
You will have spotted that England will not not be hosting the World Cup anytime soon, and the competition's decline has accelerated ever since.
Premier League B teams contesting third round matches this weekend provided further evidence, and the FA is currently considering ways to buff up its prime asset, including an increased and more equitably distributed prize-fund top of the list.
A personal preference is for Premier League clubs to waive all prize money and insist it go to the grassroots game instead.But it is not the only cup struggling to retain its lustre.
FIFA, struggling into remission after decades of disgrace, is facing its own challenges with its showpiece prize, and for the same reason: the wealth, power and appeal of Europe's leading clubs.
On Tuesday the FIFA Council (the executive committee has been re-branded and expanded since Leoz departed) is expected to approve the expansion of the World Cup from 32 to 48 teams - almost a quarter of FIFA's membership.
The motivation is political and financial. President Gianni Infantino was elected with the support of smaller nations beyond Europe, and a bigger tournament means more places for Africa, Asia and the Americas.
The change should help shore up FIFA's revenue, and Infantino will hope it can happen without alienating the same European clubs that ultimately have contributed to the FA Cup's decline.
It would see 16 groups of three teams followed by a knockout for the last 32.
This would allow the tournament to be played in 32 days with a maximum of seven games for the finalists, the same as in the current format but with a bumper 79 matches to sell to broadcasters (80 if they cling on to the awful third-place play-off).
To avoid dead matches in three-game groups draws may be settled by penalties, which if nothing else will offer England fresh terrors.
There will be complaints. Too many teams, too little quality, and no respect for tradition.
But as with the FA's proposals to jettison FA Cup replays and boost the prize fund, you cannot blame FIFA for trying.
European club football, led by the Premier League, has become so compelling, so wealthy and with such a hold over the world's best talent, that every other competition is struggling to keep up.
Even the ones that, deep down, still matter the most.
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