At the annual congress on Friday, the Saudi Arabian Football Federation (SAFF) Presented a proposal of conducting the FIFA tournament every two years instead of four.

FIFA Wants to hold the World cup every two years

Since 1930 when the first game edition was held in Uruguay, the football world cup held every four years. In 1991, a women’s competition was launched and it is also held in the gap of four years. During the congress, all majority nations voted in the favor of changing the FIFA world cup four years cycle.

 

The idea was tabled by Saudi Arabia, although the decision is still in evolving stage but it can make the football impact more strong and can turn the tables. Out of FIFA’S 209 members, 166 votes are in the favour of the proposal, and 22 were against it. , it was Arsene Wenger, former Arsenal manager, now FIFA’s director of development, who put forth this suggestion of changing the FIFA World cup four cycles in March 2021.

What are the statements and points which go in the favor of this proposal this time?

FIFA and other proponents of this idea foregrounded obviously monetary motivation, by arranging two world cups in four years will generate more revenue opportunities.

Wenger, in an interview with Le Parisien, said there was a need to reorganize the football calendar “in line with the evolution of society”. One of his ideas was to “probably organize the World Cup and the Euro every two years and stop everything else.”

FIFA president Gianni Infantino, also claims that there is room to do the changes in FIFA Calendar after 2024, said having a biennial World Cup will help countries outside Europe to play more meaningful games. “In Africa, out of 54 countries, only five qualify for the World Cup. If you don’t qualify what are you doing for the next four years? Nothing?” he questioned.

Will these changes increase the player’s workload?

Ironically, This FIFA’s proposal comes towards the end of arguably the most gruelling and congested season worldwide. Organizing the two world cups in four years means more qualifying matches and more efforts players need to do to reach the finals.

The FIFA World Cup team already expanded in 2028, the number of teams will be 48, the regional tournaments have included more teams.

Infantino said these factors will be taken into consideration in their study. “We will study it and see what it means in terms of the health of players, disruption or non-disruption of national leagues and international competitions,” he said.