World Cup every two years? Infantino promises an ‘open mind’

By Samindra Kunti

May 21 – What Gianni Infantino wants, Gianni Infantino normally gets. At today’s annual (virtual) Congress, the FIFA president in his opening address alluded to reshaping the global calendar, and the future and frequency of Zurich’s flagship competitions. 

And, as if by magic, three federations tabled ideas that could dramatically alter the outlook of the game and the international match calendar, with FIFA’s membership approving the Saudi Arabian Football Federation’s (SAFF) proposal for a feasibility study about staging the World Cup every two years.

In a flat and less than combative president’s speech, the football supremo asked: “How many competitions do we want and do we need? Do we play enough? Do we want more games or less but more meaningful?”

Infantino quickly found support and an answer from SAFF which had tabled a proposal, agenda point 10.2, “requesting a feasibility study to be carried out on the impact of playing the FIFA World Cup and the FIFA Women’s World Cup every two years.”

CAF strongman Fauzi Lekjaa, from Morocco, also took the floor to endorse the proposal, which was passed by Congress with 166 votes to 22, suggesting opposition in some quarters.

In his video message, SAFF president Yasser Al Misehal, who had previously explained the proposal as “a chance for players to participate more in their peak years” in global finals, said that the World Cup cycle needs to be revised as the sport and its future are “at a critical junction”.

“In the past year, we have seen the importance of national team football to the entire football ecosystem cannot be underestimated,” said Al Misehal. “Much of what we do as member associations, not only in terms national team football but also with regard to club competitions, is driven by and centered around the current four-year cycles of both the World Cup and Women’s World Cup.”

He suggested “a wide-ranging analysis, looking not only at the impact of the World Cup and Women’s World Cup taking place every two years, but also considering the qualifying competition for these tournaments, adding fewer yet more meaningful competitive national team matches could potentially address concerns regarding player welfare whilst at the same time enhancing the value and merit of such competitions.”

Lekjaa, a Confederation of African Football vice-president who last weekend was retained as the organisation’s head of the Finance Committee, lent his powerful voice to the idea, endorsing Infantino’s mantra of football needing to become “truly global.”

“We completely support the review of the competition format and this will help us to carry out our mission in accordance with the statues for football development,” he said. “The competition formats need to evolve so that we can develop football fully. We ask the administration to carry out this review as quickly as possible so that we can establish a new competition format as soon as possible. We think this will bring further growth to football and allow us to emerge from this challenging situation today and allow regions which are lagging behind to develop.”

At a news conference, Infantino himself remained coy about the Saudi proposal. FIFA generates $6 billion in revenue from the World Cup and the competition remains the organization’s golden goose. Staging the tournament on a biennial basis could devalue the image, reputation and even commercial appeal of the tournament, something Infantino seemed to acknowledged.

“You don’t need to be an Einstein to know that if you have the World Cup every two years you double the revenue,” said Infantino who vowed that the sporting element will receive priority over any commercial considerations in the decision-making process. “We have to go into these studies with an open mind. We know about the value of the World Cup and the impact of the World Cup.”

They say that ‘Turkeys don’t vote for Christmas’, but with this proposal (nominally presented as a feasibility study) that is exactly what federations may have done. The reality is that a World Cup every two years would destroy each confederation’s own regional tournament showpiece. The obvious result of that is that for the vast majority of FIFA’s membership it would reduce their international playing opportunities, not increase them.

Infantino seemingly also received support from both Liberia and Jamaica to fast-track some of his own ideas to football’s higher echelons of decision-making.

The general-secretary of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) Dalton Wind revived the idea of a Women’s World League, the creation of which Infantino suggested in pre-pandemic times, with an address to build on the “watershed moment” of the 2019 Women’s World Cup.

The Liberian FA echoed Infantino’s doubts over the future of FIFA’s youth competitions by requesting consultation among the member associations. The Zurich boss believes it would be opportune to stage those competitions on an annual basis instead of every two years.

Infantino’s executive team have a busy time ahead, concocting plans and nurturing grand dreams and proposals for the game’s future and a very different looking FIFA calendar.

That comes with some real danger to what was a previously sustainable and rock solid eco-system in terms of competition. Previously the only danger to that was in the shifting sands of the corridors of power. Now the world will wait and see if the lunatics really have taken over the asylum.

Contact the writer of this story, Samindra Kunti, atmoc.l1711699404labto1711699404ofdlr1711699404owedi1711699404sni@o1711699404fni1711699404