Since the World Cup inaugural tournament in 1930, the championship has been awarded every four years except in 1942 and 1946 when it was held due to the Second World War.
Meanwhile, the every four years tourney could be facing a radical change as FIFA’s chief of global football development Arsene Wenger has become a driving force behind plans to hold a World Cup finals every two years instead of four;
Owing to the imminent development, some of the most famous former players and coaches in the game have been scheduled to meet with Wenger in Qatar over the next two days to listen to his plans for the future of football.
Notable amongst those invited to meet with the former Arsenal manager in Doha as part of FIFA’s consultation process are former England stars Michael Owen and John Terry.
The 71-year-old Frenchman wants to change the international match calendar so that there are major tournaments every summer and fewer qualifying games during the year.
Meanwhile, National Daily understands that the proposals are set to be opposed by UEFA and clubs and players in Western Europe, but it is believed that they could prove to be popular in the rest of the world.
National Daily can further confirm that 166 of FIFA’s 211 member associations had voted to carry out a feasibility study into the proposals first put forward in March by the Saudi Arabia Football Federation.
It is however believed that all 211 FIFA members are likely to vote on the proposals before the end of the year and if they are endorsed, the World Cup finals could be held every two years from the summer of 2028.
The World Cup is FIFA’s main source of income and, unlike UEFA, it does not have lucrative competitions such as the Champions League to provide it with a steady stream of revenues all year every year.
Wenger speaking to French newspaper L’Equipe last week, posited that there would not be more games under his plans and players would be guaranteed at least 25 rest days every summer.
Players would also spend more time at their clubs because there would only be a maximum block of two qualifying match periods every year.
In furtherance of the proposal, FIFA president Gianni Infantino had pointed out that biennial World Cups are being considered because the majority of member associations voted to look into the prospect.
“Let’s not forget that 166 associations, 88 per cent of those who voted were in favour, with a majority from all continents to look into this matter of feasibility,” Infantino said.
“That’s what we are doing: studying the calendar, consulting everyone, starting of course with the protagonists of football, the main actors of football – the players, the coaches.
“The process is led for men’s football by Arsene Wenger and for women’s football by Jill Ellis, so two top personalities of football, because this is a football project.”
Infantino added that there are too many “meaningless” international matches as it stands.
“I think that the status quo of the international match calendar shows us that we have reached some limits,” he said.
“The current release period for national team football in this particular period, exacerbated by the COVID situation, shows us how difficult it is today for players to travel from one country to another, from one continent to another, to start the season typically in Europe, to stop the season to go and play for the national team, to come back and play a few games, to go again, to stop and go to a different continent, to a different time zone.
“It’s not good for the health of the players, it’s not good for the competitions. There are too many meaningless matches. We need to look into what more can be done. We have to have a system which is simple and is clear, which everyone understands.