The world football governing body, FIFA, is considering holding the FIFA World Cup every two years instead of once in four years. This will apply to the women and men World Cups.
Reports from Zurich, Switzerland, where the headquarters of the world football governing body is located, confirmed that FIFA would carry out a feasibility study on the proposed plan. The world football governing body approved the proposal at its annual congress on Friday, May 21, 2021.
The proposal to hold the FIFA World Cup every two years was a document prepared by the Saudi Arabian Football Federation (SAFF) and presented to FIFA during their annual congress on Friday.
Before the proposal was approved, it was subjected to voting and 166 national federations voted in favor of the proposal while 22 federations voted against the proposal.
While presenting the proposal to FIFA, SAFF president Yasser Al-Misehal said: “We believe the future of football is at a critical juncture. The many issues that football has faced have now been further exacerbated by the ongoing pandemic.
“It is time to review how the global game is structured and to consider what is best for the future of our sport.
“This should include whether the current four-year cycle remains the optimum basis for how football is managed both from a competition and commercial perspective.”
While reacting to the proposal, the president of the world football governing body Gianni Infantino described the proposal as being eloquent and detailed.
The football administrator also disclosed that the feasibility study on the proposal would look into the qualification systems for the women and men world cup.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino maintains his stands against European Super League
While addressing the national federations at the FIFA congress on Friday, the president of the world football governing body, Gianni Infantino, insisted that the football body would continue to stand against the failed European Super League.
He argued that the most important thing for football is to make the round leather game more globally competitive and denied ever backing the failed breakaway league.
“A lot has been talked in recent weeks about a Super League in Europe, some kind of breakaway competition outside the football structures”, he said.
“I have said it before and let me say it again, clearly and unequivocally, FIFA is against any such project…
“To listen to some clubs, and to speak to some clubs, doesn’t certainly mean that FIFA was behind, was colluding, was plotting for any Super League clubs,” he said.
“We should look at the facts and not rumors or corridor gossip, especially not coming from certain parts.
“I have been working in positions of relevance for decades now and I know many clubs, I speak with clubs for many years, since my days at UEFA.
“And when speaking to European clubs, the Super League topic always is a topic for discussion, always. Everybody in football knows that.
“So we will not play games here. Everybody in football knows that for years and years some clubs are studying and preparing for this or similar projects.
“In the 16 years I was in UEFA we always managed to manage that and I can tell you that there were projects that were far more advanced than the one we have seen recently.”
FIFA Congress votes on future of FIFA Women’s World Cup™ hosting and looks to explore new competition opportunities https://t.co/lg8fszY3aU pic.twitter.com/DBvylJecJN
— FIFA Media (@fifamedia) May 21, 2021
