Biennial World Cup?

[dirtynine]

FIFA is pushing to make the World Cup an every-two-years thing. The big clubs aren't happy. Player fatigue, especially with 48-team WC brackets, would be a real issue. Regional tournaments that take place in the non World Cup even years would get shoved aside - and even if they weren't, they'd be largely de-valued.It would also kill a bit of the kid-on-Christmas-morning feeling that you get when it's finally World Cup time.

The plusses include: more money for everyone, presumably. And I guess, maybe, more opportunities to enjoy World Cup-level soccer. Maybe a compromise could be a big 48-team World Cup every four years, and some other format in the intervening years? Or a big Club World Cup?

What are the chances Infantino (and Wenger) can push this over the line?

 

[SocrManiac]

We're headed toward a breaking point as it is. The players have been complaining about fixture congestion more loudly over the past few years. Nobody wants this outside of FIFA. There's virtually no chance this happens.

 

[Kliq]

I feel like this idea is floated every few months and it never goes anywhere.

 

[Morgan's Magic Snowplow]

This is such a terrible idea and transparent money grab. It is really embarrassing and unfortunate that Wenger is involved.

 

[Cellar-Door]

You know they're trying hard by the survey they did to argue there was support. Their headline takeaway was that fans supported a WC more frequent than every 4 years.....
Of course the options were 2 years, 3 years, 4 years, and the largest vote was for 4 years.
They desperately want extra grift money now that bribes are more dangerous

 

[Mighty Joe Young]

As I understand it Wenger was proposing ditching the international windows (yay) - to be replaced by an off year qualifying tournament in the summer. Of course this would conflict with the Euros and the other big tournaments. Don’t see it happening.

 

[Dummy Hoy]

Eufa and comnebol are against it, rest of the world for it basically. Really hpe it doesn't turn out

 

[Conigliaro's Potential]

I could envisage a three-year cycle potentially working, with all international football saved for the (Northern Hemisphere) summer:

Year 1: qualifying for continental tournaments (European Championships, Copa America, etc.)
Year 2: continental tournaments, which are used to narrow down the field on each continent and determine who qualifies for the World Cup
Year 3: World Cup

In theory, eliminating international football during the club season could be incredibly helpful to players' wellbeing, with them no longer needing to fly around the world to represent their countries (and potentially get injured) across multiple windows each season. I just don't see how that can happen across a two-year cycle while still retaining the continental championships.

 

[OCST]

48 was disaster enough. No.