The FIFA President was not present at the 139th IOC Session here where three members slammed plans for the event to be held every two years instead of four.

More members would probably have criticised the plan if IOC President Thomas Bach had not stepped in to stop them. 

National Olympic Committees of Africa President Mustapha Berraf led the criticism at today’s IOC gathering in the Chinese capital, claiming the move would have a "heavy impact" on the continent and football in general.

"The plan would create immeasurable damage and would put in danger sport and in particular football," said Berraf.

"It would simply push away other sports and relegate them to the back benches which is unacceptable and create a rift between women's and men's sport and be a setback to our aim of creating equity and parity for all sports."

Berraf insisted footballers were "not robots" and needed to recover and spend time with their loved ones.

"I make the request to put an end to this endeavour which is incompatible with our Olympic values," added Berraf.

Infantino sparked controversy when he claimed the biennial World Cup proposal could help prevent African migrants from finding "death in the sea".

The Swiss official later insisted that his comment made during an address at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe had been "misinterpreted and taken out of context".

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has since thrown its support behind Infantino but Berraf believes plans for the World Cup will "not help the development of sport in Africa".

Nenad Lalovic, head of the United World Wrestling, and Ryu Seung-min, a member of the IOC Athletes’ Commission, also spoke out in opposition of FIFA’s plans.

Lalovic, a member of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF), claimed the umbrella body had issued their criticism to FIFA.

"Football should cooperate in solidarity with other sports and International Federations," added Ryu, an Olympic gold medallist in table tennis.

"Sport is for all and we need more solidarity among sport."

Bach revealed Infantino had cancelled his visit to Beijing two days ago and refused to discuss the issue without the FIFA President being present.

"We would like to discuss this with the FIFA President but this is not possible because he cancelled his visit to Beijing the day before yesterday," said Bach.

"We should not discuss this now on a wider scale on this issue in his absence in respect for our colleague.

"If you agree, we will try to take contact with him again and forward these comments which have been made by Mr Berraf, Mr Lalovic and Mr Ryu to him and FIFA."

The CAF is among the few organisations to have backed the proposal to stage the men's World Cup every two years instead of every four.

UEFA and CONMEBOL have threatened to boycott the tournament if the plans are pushed through.

Infantino claimed at a global summit last month that the biennial World Cup would deliver an additional $4.4 billion (£3.3 billion/€3.9 billion) in the first four-year cycle.