We could be fixed soon.
Fifa President Gianni Infantino has pledged "decisions by the end of this year" on the possibility of hosting the World Cup every two years instead of the current quadrennial pace, an idea that is causing controversy on the football planet.
“This consultation process (…) will be very comprehensive, very broad and we hope to complete it by the end of this year,” Infantino said in a video.
“The current international match schedule comes to an end in (20) 24. So by 2024 we have to have a new match schedule.
So we have to make decisions by the end of this year, ”he added.
An idea pushed by Arsène Wenger
The debate around a World Cup every two years has been revived in recent days in the daily L'Equipe by ex-coach Arsène Wenger, director of development for Fifa.
This recommends a selection competition each year, alternating World and Euro, for example, for the European Confederation.
UEFA opposed it, assuring that it would “dilute” the “jewel” of world football, according to its president Aleksander Ceferin.
The World Association of Professional Leagues (WLF) also criticized in a statement on Wednesday a project which "would damage the economy of football and the health of players".
This body specifies that it "will oppose any plan to hold the Football World Cup every two years and thus undermine the history and tradition of a competition which means so much".
On Tuesday, around fifty supporters' organizations from around the world had also affirmed their opposition, specifying that they had "neither the time, nor the money, nor the ability to (get) to the other side of the world every 24 hours. months (…) in a downgraded competition ”.
"In the current calendar, there is no place"
But Gianni Infantino claims to "listen" to "supporters around the world, not just from certain parts of the world".
“We are studying the calendar, we are consulting everyone, starting with football players,” he said, ensuring that “clubs around the world” are solicited, including the powerful European clubs.
However, during a meeting Tuesday in Lausanne, the European Association of Clubs (ECA) for its part considered that it had not been formally consulted on this subject.
“We do not yet have any proposal on the table from Fifa on what a World Cup would look like every two years.
But in the current calendar, there is no room, ”Michael Gerlinger, ECA vice-president, told reporters.
