FIFA World Cup Every Two Years?

The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) is evaluating a project that would change the periodicity of the Soccer World Cup. What are the reasons for this project to succeed? What are the pros and cons of this idea? Know what famous players and coaches think about it.

The World Cup Project

The idea of having a FIFA World Cup every two years started in Saudi Arabia. The project that came from the South Asian Football Association (SAFF) intends to add value to soccer as a sport. In this way, meaningful players would have more chances to participate internationally during their golden years. Of course, there is a financial reason as well. Given the importance of this competition, cutting the space between World Cups in half would also improve revenue.

“Much of what we do as member associations, not only in terms national team football but also with regard to club competitions, is driven by and centered around the current four-year cycles of both the World Cup and Women’s World Cup.” SAFF president Yasser Al Misehal

Gianni Infantino, the FIFA president, received this project and claimed he would have “an open mind” about it. Lately, he decided to leave this to voting. The idea is to hold a FIFA Congress, where confederations will expose their position towards this radical idea. Whatever the result, the mere fact of having it into evaluation is quite a revolution for FIFA calendars. Soccer World Cups have occurred every four years since they began to exist in 1930.

Gianni Infantino, FIFA president.  Taken from: Kremlin.ru, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=80855267

Other Possible Modifications To FIFA World Cup

Coincidentally, this is not the first time Infantino moves towards change. Several modifications appeared during these last years as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, other changes under evaluation affected the World Cup competition. The idea of having 48 teams instead of 32 is still a possibility, and FIFA plans to apply these changes for the 2026 edition. It seems Infantino’s vision is to revolutionize soccer as we know it today.

Soccer is a beautiful sport with fans all over the world. However, we also need to see this proposal through a different set of eyes. As fans, we also need to understand that it is also an enormous business. As a plus, change has affected other industries throughout the years, and we cannot expect soccer to stay out of the scope.

Do you think you know everything about Roberto Carlos? Check it out here!

Pros and Cons of Having a World Cup Every Two Years

The proposal has brought movement worldwide. As a plus, FIFA’s open-mind posture towards modifying the calendar made professionals and fans express their opinion. Javier Mascherano, an Argentine soccer idol, said that “Not only does it make sense, but it is a fundamental part of broad and positive changes to the international calendar”.

Other important figures in the sports industry have shown their position towards the project. The President of the Moroccan Football Federation, Fouzi Lekjaa, expressed that this modification would favor those national teams that were not as successful—according to him, having a World Cup every two years would improve inclusion in this type of international competition.

“A World Cup played every two years instead of four will give African teams more chances to improve by competing more often with the best.” Fouzi Ledjaa, President of the Moroccan Football Federation.

But, what are the pros and cons of having a biennial soccer World Cup? After analyzing the project from different points of view and listening to various opinions, we have created our list of advantages and disadvantages. These include consequences related to sport and tradition.

Pros

On the one hand, the proposal has several counterparts:

• The radical project affects soccer tradition. Having a biennial World Cup would alter the traditional four-year expectation that has prevailed since the inception of this competition. Adding frequency to it would reduce its prestige.
• Clubs and teams are already struggling to comply with FIFA calendars. Qualification periods would have to shorten. Thus, matches would take place more periodically. This fact would affect clubs as they would have to do without their key players more often. As a plus, the relationship between clubs and national federations would worsen. On the other hand, having a crowded calendar can result in injuries.
• Preparation times will also shorten. Nowadays, hosting countries have four years to prepare and have an infrastructure that complies with a World Cup’s demands. Inclusive as it is for national teams, the project would also limit the possibility for any country to host this type of competition.
• Qualifiers rounds would also need changing. Shortening the period in between World Cups would mean a different qualifying structure. In response to this, Arsene Wenger has already claimed that continental cups could also help decide which nations get a place in World Cup competitions.

Cons

On the other hand, the project has things that may improve the competition. Taking both opinions and our point of view, these are the advantages of having a biennial World Cup:

• Inclusion is the first thing we think of when we evaluate this project. It is true that, together with the addition of 16 more national teams per World Cup, nations that have not participated in a single competition will no have higher chances to qualify.
• Key players will also have more chances of winning the competition. Nowadays, a player has from 2 to 4 (as an extreme) World Cups to get the valued trophy. By reducing the period between one and the other to its half, they would, without doubt, double those chances.
• An increase in revenue would also occur with a biennial World Cup. To this matter, Infantino has claimed that “You don’t need to be an Einstein to know that if you have two World Cups in four years, you will double the revenues.”
• The disappearance of qualifying phases can be an improvement. While we all enjoy these FIFA windows as fans, it is also true that clubs struggle to comply with them. Once FIFA sets the qualifying process for a biennial World Cup, clubs, players, and national federations may feel relieved without movement between local competitions.
• More frequent competitions at an international level can also improve engagement. Nowadays, with a World Cup every four years, fans, sponsors, and other involved industries. This fact is closely related to the possibility of having online streaming platforms as official broadcasters of international soccer events.

So, Are These Modifications Good or Bad for Soccer?

Having a Soccer World Cup every two years is a radical and revolutionary idea. But is it that bad for the sports industry? Although many different points of view have expressed themselves in favor or against this idea, it is clear that FIFA tends to approve and apply it eventually. What are your thoughts on this? Would it be beneficial or not? Remember to subscribe to our weekly newsletter to receive more news and updates on English related to sports. Thank you for reading, and see you next time!