09/09/2021 15:32
Clarín.com
sports
Updated 09/09/2021 3:32 PM
FIFA detailed its plan to reorganize international football and that revolves around staging the World Cup every two years,
despite the fact that the rejection of Europe could lead to a boycott.
In a presentation in which football legends participated, FIFA unveiled its proposal on Thursday, but the reaction from Europe was immediate.
UEFA president
Aleksander Ceferin
confirmed that he could launch a boycott of his teams, which have monopolized the titles of the top soccer tournament since Brazil were proclaimed champions in 2002.
"We can decide not to participate
," Ceferin said in an interview with the British newspaper The Times.
UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin disagrees with FIFA's idea.
Photo: AP Photo / Alessandra Tarantino
Some 80 former international stars traveled to Qatar for two days of FIFA-sponsored talks and emerged with a consensus
to play the tournament every two years
.
"We all agree with the new proposal for the calendar," said Brazilian Ronaldo, who played in four World Cups and won two. He said FIFA's proposal is "just wonderful."
But Ceferin warned that "as far as we know, the South Americans share our position" against FIFA's plan.
"Good luck with a World Cup like this," Ceferin told The Times, in the most recent UEFA-FIFA conflict since 2016, when he and Gianni Infantino were elected to their respective positions.
Infantino and his allies have since 2018 probed the idea of a biennial World Cup, which European football sees as
a commercial and competitive threat
to its club and national team events.
Arsene Wenger
has spearheaded the project since FIFA hired the former Arsenal manager as its director for global development.
Details mentioned in recent interviews and meetings with the press were finally presented on Thursday from Qatar in a general plan to reorganize the calendar of international matches starting in 2024.
The calendar established by FIFA determines when the clubs must cede their players to the national teams. nationals.
Arsene Wenger, one of the soccer figures who encourages the possibility of playing the World Cup every two years.
Photo: REUTERS / Valeriano Di Domenico / File Photo
More top-level tournaments and fewer knockout matches are the priority, with the biennial men's tournament being the key element.
Wenger said the priority is to reduce player travel and less disruption for clubs, apart from giving young footballers around the world "a chance to shine" by playing more meaningful games.
The current system, which usually has European club players flying long flights throughout the season on short breaks for matches with their national teams, could be replaced with
a single block of fewer knockout matches in October
.
The international tournaments would be held every June, with a proposal
that footballers receive a mandatory 25 days of vacation
before rejoining their clubs.
Wenger said that the balance of the players, having 20% of their games with their national teams and 80% with their clubs would remain, but in a "more efficient way."
"I think there is an outdated (status quo), '' he said." It is not linked to the evolution of the modern game.
We will not increase the number of matches,
we could even reduce it.
''
Retired footballers such as German Jürgen Klinsmann, Brazilian Roberto Carlos, Argentine Javier Mascherano, Didier Drogba of Ivorian and Danish Peter Schmeichel were recruited to talk about the change in the four-year World Cup cycle that has existed since the first edition in 1930.
"I don't think anyone has disagreed with the frequency '' of biennial World Cups, said Schmeichel, who played only in the 1998 World Cup." It was a really long wait for an ambitious player like me to have the next one. chance''.
The global group of footballers' associations FIFPRO has not yet commented on FIFA's plans.
The FIFA process has infuriated many in European football, who say they were shunned from the consultations.
"No one has contacted us yet. It's very strange," said Nasser al-Khelaifi, the president of French club Paris Saint-Germain who also heads the Association of European Clubs, on Thursday at UEFA headquarters.
The European Leagues group added their opposition a day after the World Leagues Forum criticized FIFA's plans.
Wenger said
FIFA could make its decision in December
, although it would most likely be ratified by its congress of 211 member associations next year.
Saudi Arabia, a close ally of Infantino, formally called for a feasibility study of the biennial cup at the virtual meeting of FIFA members in May.
The key is in the votes
Europe and South America have just a combined 65 of 211 votes, with Africa's 54 now closer to Infantino,
who is also a member of the International Olympic Committee
.
FIFA can expect opposition from Olympic sports to adding another World Cup that would suck up
billions of dollars in commercial profits
and enormous press attention.
If passed, the biennial World Cup would almost certainly move to odd-numbered years to avoid conflicting with the Olympics, which begin at the end of July in 2028 and 2032.
Source: AP
Look also
FIFA took another step towards holding World Cups every two years