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Fifa has dismissed its biennial World Cup project on the menu of its congress on Thursday March 31 in Doha, leaving doubts hanging over the future of this reform which has met with a lot of hostility, especially among the stars of the round ball or the federations of Europe and Latin America.
« The World Cup every two years is no longer really on the agenda. There will be the general assembly of FIFA next week in Qatar. It’s not on the agenda. I think the file is a bit forgotten “, explained the president of the French Football Federation Noel Le Graet in a recent interview with RFI.
Fierce opponent UEFA
Is the case abandoned? No firm answer has been given at present by Fifa on an event which has been held every four years since 1930 for men and 1991 for women. Fifa had given up in December on scheduling a vote at its congress in Doha, and does not even plan to discuss more broadly the overhaul of the international calendar by 2024. For everyone involved in football, a biennial World Cup is out of the question. I’m happy that Fifa also understood this “, assured at the beginning of March Aleksander Ceferin, president of UEFA, convinced that the project was now “ excluded ».
Fifa, however, assures that organizing a final phase of a major tournament each summer, alternating between the World Cup and continental competitions such as the Euros and the Copa America, would benefit “ to all “. In December, the world body thus promised an additional 19 million dollars (16.8 million euros) per four-year cycle to each of its federations, thus quadrupling their “ solidarity funding » from 6 to 25 million dollars over this period if its reform is successful.
At the idea of organizing a World Cup every two years, UEFA immediately took the lead in the refusal front, quickly joined by its South American counterpart (Conmebol), then by the World Leagues Forum bringing together around forty of professional championships, and number of organizations.
CAF support
On the contrary, the African Football Confederation (CAF), meeting in Extraordinary General Assembly (AGE) in November 2021 in Cairo, had brought his support to a possible World Cup organized every two years. In the presence of the president of Fifa Gianni Infantino, the AGE had voted the following motion: 1. CAF adheres to the decision of the FIFA Congress to conduct the feasibility study for the organization of the Men’s and Women’s World Cup every two years. 2. If the result of the study concludes that it is feasible, CAF will strongly support their organization every two years. »
A reform of the World Cup praised in front of the members of the CAF by Arsène Wenger, its great architect and promoter. A project which did not seem incompatible with an African Cup of Nations organized every two years, had assured Steven Martens, the technical director of Fifa.
« No need to discuss it »
« Your favorite dessert, you’re not going to eat it every day, otherwise you’ll get tired of it. What is rare is beautiful. A World Cup every two years is to trivialize the event, it is a mistake. Wanting to offer high-level football every day means exposing yourself to boring people. Can you imagine playing the Champions League every 6 months? “, claimed to RFI Carlos Bianchiformer Argentinian international footballer and Paris Saint-Germain player.
« For us it’s not an idea, so it’s useless to discuss it: it doesn’t exist “, again recently swept the Qatari leader Nasser Al-Khelaïfi, president of Paris Saint-Germain and the powerful European Association of Clubs (ECA).
These debates have gone beyond the borders of football, since the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has been concerned since mid-October to see the World Cup encroaching a little more on the territory of other sports.
