FIFA to Consult National Football Associations on Biennial World Cup Plans
The idea of a Biennial World Cup was revived in March this year by former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, who is now the head of FIFA’s global football development.
FIFA has taken another step towards trying to implement its controversial plan of a biennial World Cup, changing the cycle of staging the grand tournament every four years. The world governing body invited the national bodies to an online summit on September 30 to discuss the possibilities.
The World Cup plan has been pushed into the agenda clubbed with FIFA’s general reforms in the international calendar.
"There is a broad consensus within the game that the international match calendar should be reformed and improved," FIFA said in a statement.
"Following invitations to stakeholders, including all confederations, at the beginning of September, discussions are being organised in the coming weeks.
"FIFA also invited its member associations to a first online summit on 30 September 2021. This is one of several opportunities to establish a constructive and open debate, at a global and regional level, over the coming months."
The biennial World Cup is an idea floating around the football corridors for a while. It was revived this year, in March to be exact, by former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, who is now the head of FIFA’s global football development.
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The basic plan is to hold an international tournament each year from 2025-2026. That would wreak havoc in the international calendar, and also drastically affect the plans, and even the relevance of the continental championships, including the Euro (European Championship) and the Copa America. FIFA proposes to hold the continental tournaments in the years that fall between the World Cups.
No wonder UEFA and South American Confederation (CONMEBOL) are vehemently against the plan. The European body’s president Aleksander Ceferin has threatened that its nations would boycott a biennial World Cup. The CONMEBOL said the project had "no sporting justification".
FIFA president Gianni Infantino, meanwhile, has promised the decision on staging a World Cup every two years would be made by the end 2021.
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