FIFA is considering more changes to their World Cup, including organizing a tournament every three years. Recently, FIFA halted plans of making the World Cup a biennial event.
The Guardian claims that talks about changes to the World Cup have been ongoing for months now. FIFA president Gianni Infantino clearly wants the tournament to increase in frequency. After the soccer world shot down his two-year proposal, he shifted to the triennial idea.
Potential of World Cup every three years
Nations in Africa and Asia are apparently behind this idea. Infantino made interesting comments about these specific areas back in January. “This topic is not about whether we want a World Cup every two years, but about what we want to do for the future of football,” said Infantino.
“We need to find ways to include the whole world to give hope to Africans so that they don’t need to cross the Mediterranean in order to find maybe a better life but, more probably, death in the sea,” Infantino continued. “We need to give opportunities, to give dignity. Not by charity but by allowing the rest of the world to participate.”
French superstar spurns the idea
France superstar Kylian Mbappé was less than thrilled about the idea to play the World Cup more often. “It’s a special thing because it’s every four years… If you have it every two years it can start to be normal to play a World Cup,” Mbappé said. “I want to say it’s not normal. It’s something amazing that you get to play maybe once or twice in your life.”
Along with changing the timeframe of the tournament, FIFA has also debated changing the group stage of the 2026 World Cup as well. Infantino had previously wanted to move to 16 groups of three teams. Nevertheless, he thankfully revised these ideas and has now committed to sticking to the normal four-team groups.
As far as holding the tournament more often, it appears as if many fans and pundits tend to agree with Mbappé. However, the on-field success of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar has apparently resuscitated Infantino’s desires for the tournament to be held more often.
PHOTO: IMAGO / ULMER Pressebildagentur
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