Ronaldo, Roberto Carlos, Drogba, Owen, Terry, Okocha but also French people like Youri Djorkaeff or David Trezeguet... Since submitting their idea for a biennial World Cup in 2021, FIFA and its development director Arsène Wenger do not hesitate to use the aura of big names in the history of the game to sell their project.
Only, behind this window, the corporation is more reluctant.
Professional footballers are widely opposed to the biennial World Cup project carried by Fifa, according to a poll carried out by Fifpro, the world players' union, and published on Tuesday.
75% of them are in favor of maintaining the World Cup every four years. Fifpro questioned more than 1,000 professional male footballers around the world about their wishes for the future of international calendars.
African players more shared than others
Note all the same significant disparities from one continent to another, like the relationship between the different confederations.
77% of European and Asian players prefer a World Cup every four years, compared to 63% for players from the American continent.
The questioning is more shared among African players, only 49% of whom want to keep the current format.
Read alsoFootball World Cup every two years: who can still stop the FIFA project?
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has supported FIFA's ambitions from the start.
It could indeed derive from this reform significant financial income, unlike UEFA, which says it can lose up to three billion euros.
“There is a demand in small and medium-sized markets to develop and strengthen international competitions,” remarks Fifpro, which wishes to “encourage investment in regional competitions”.
Asked about their favorite competition, 81% of players around the world opt for their national championship or the World Cup “in its current quadrennial cycle”.
“Only 21% of players think that their voice is respected and that their well-being is sufficiently considered by the governance of international football”, adds the general secretary of the union Jonas Baer-Hoffmann, quoted in the Fifpro press release.
If former glories of the round ball have expressed their enthusiasm to attend a World Cup both, the players still in office are much more skeptical.
Kylian Mbappé the first, if we have to talk about the stars of the moment, felt that “playing it every two years would make this competition normal, which must not be the case.
It's something incredible.
This is an event that you may only play once in your life”.