ASUNCION, April 11 -- FIFA president Gianni Infantino urged football administrators to remember their role as custodians of the game during the 78th South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) annual congress on Thursday.

Infantino made reference to South America's role as co-host of the 2030 World Cup, which will mark 100 years since the first edition of the tournament was held in Uruguay.

Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay will host one match each, with the rest of competition to be played in Morocco, Portugal and Spain.

"It will be something unique, it will be the centenary World Cup," Infantino said. "It will be the World Cup that will truly unite the world.

"We always say that football has the magic, the strength to bring people together in every corner of the world with the same emotion. The magic that, if you give a football to a young girl, or to a young boy, their faces immediately light up.

"It's something special, and it's something that I think, we, as executives, have to take care of and protect, by protecting football's values," he added.

"The values that we all have and the values we all grew up with. All playing football, organizing football, following games as fans. These values that are the same in Oceania, in North America, in Africa, in South America, in Asia or in Europe. And for this reason, when we started to talk about 2030, it was clear for me that we had to think about something special."

Infantino hailed the "disruptive thinking" of the FIFA council members who voted in favor of an unprecedented multi-host format to mark the World Cup's centenary.

He also thanked CONMEBOL for its decision to award him with the South American Football Order of Merit.

"It's an incredible honor," Infantino said. "I extend my gratitude to the CONMEBOL president Alejandro Dominguez, to the members of the congress and to South America," he added.