FIFA management is seeking support from associates on the proposal to hold the World Cup every two years, and not four as it has always been. For now, CAF has already indicated that it could support the idea as a bloc if it entered the agenda of the future Congress – 56 out of 211 potential votes would already be guaranteed.
The proposal stresses that changing the format will make the tournament, for example, reach Africa for the second time – the cup on the continent was held only once, in 2010, in South Africa. Defeating the host candidate in the 2006, 2010 and 2026 editions, Morocco would be a natural choice, but FIFA would encourage a joint application with other countries.
A study group was created to assess the “impact” of holding the tournament every two years. The idea, the main enthusiast of which was FIFA President Gianni Infantino, has two main rules: 1) to give more teams a chance to reach the final stage of the competition (and for this there was also an increase from 32 to 48 participants. From 2026); 2) Increasing the possibility of countries hosting the tournament.
Item 2 pleased Africans who saw it as a remote possibility to host the World Cup again in the medium term. In 2010, the tournament went to the region because FIFA created a rotation, specifically to prevent the continent’s defeat in a dispute, so that only African countries could advance. Rodízio that only lasted once in a World Cup, until the 2014 World Cup, in which only Brazil was the contender in South America.
If the idea of FIFA is approved, the cup will be held every two years after 2026, which will be in North America and for the first time will be played in three countries: the USA, Canada and Mexico. It would be an encouragement to the International Federation, which would accommodate the many nominations already launched.
In its current form, with a quartet cup, 2030 today two continents Rivals: South America, with an unprecedented four-way nomination (Argentina, Uruguay, Chile and Paraguay), Europe, which is interested in England (FIFA wants to open the way for a project not only in English, but from the UK, in other words, with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland together) and Spain and Portugal united In a joint proposal.
China is still on the waiting list. The country now has major FIFA partners from the private sector and will host the first Club World Cup with 24 participants, in 2021, but it has been postponed without expectations due to the pandemic. There, behind the scenes in FIFA, the certainty that the Chinese are the favorites for the 2034 World Cup, if the current format is maintained. But if you change, then everything suits you better.
Europeans can get the 2028 edition, with South America getting the centenary of the World Cup in 2030, which will return to its origins as it first appeared in Uruguay in 1930, and the Chinese and African candidates are chosen between 2032 and 2034.
The biennial World Cup will be another part of the organizational change that FIFA is planning for football after 2024. The entity has set up a group led by former Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger that discusses the new formats for the global calendar. Among the ideas, leave a month or two a year exclusively for national team matches and the rest for national and continental club competitions, as well as holidays. There will be fewer FIFA dates, which are now spread over nine days for five months of the year, but will be compensated for by the World Cup every two years.
The proposal for the biennial cup was presented by the Federation of Saudi Arabia, at the conference held at the end of May. Indeed, a bureaucratic work, because the movement to analyze the idea came from the group led by Wenger, but it needed a union to pay for it. If the created committee gives a positive opinion, approval through Congress is required, with votes from the 211 member unions — annual meetings, which take place between May and June, and the next meeting will be in 2022.
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