FIFA to hold online meeting with associations over biennial World Cup
Football’s world governing body FIFA will hold a meeting with its member-associations over the controversial plan to hold the World Cup every two years.
An online summit on the international match calendar will take place on Sept. 30, FIFA announced on Monday.
FIFA’s proposal to hold World Cup finals every two instead of every four years has drawn criticism in Europe.
UEFA chief Aleksander Ceferin has threatened a boycott and the German Football Federation has also expressed unhappiness.
In a letter to Ceferin, the Alliance of European Football Coaches’ Associations (AEFCA) also showed its opposition to the plans.
The letter said FIFA president Gianni Infantino was pressing ahead with the idea for purely economic reasons and that it was the latest in a series of inappropriate FIFA proposals.
New England women’s coach Sarina Wiegman also came out against biennial World Cups on Monday.
“I think it’s not very good for the players, for their welfare. In Europe it’s very well organised, we have very good competitions, we have the Euros, then you have the Olympics, then you have the World Cup,” she was quoted as saying.
“I think when you have all these tournaments every year, how are the players going to get some rest?
“Where are they going to recover from a very intense football year every year? Players are not robots. So, I don’t think it’s a very good idea.”
Other areas of the world are keener on the plan and FIFA put out a fan poll showing support for the idea, although different statistics within the survey suggested otherwise.
