It is a project decried by part of the planet which could be coming to an end. The World Cup every two years, desired by the president of Fifa, Gianni Infantino, will not be on the program of the body’s congress, scheduled for Thursday in Doha. For the moment, it is difficult to know if the project is temporarily dismissed or definitively abandoned. Nevertheless, this news should delight several football players fiercely opposed to this measure. Aleksander Ceferin, UEFA President, said at the beginning of March: “For everyone involved in football, a two-year World Cup is out of the question. I am happy that Fifa has also understood this”.
Because this is the second time that the world body has put the discussions concerning this vast project, which would upset the entire international calendar, on the back burner. Arsène Wenger, director of football development at Fifa, actually advocated organizing one international competition per year and reducing the frequency of international breaks. Last December, the world body had already given up on submitting this biennial World Cup project to a vote. On Tuesday, the president of the European Club Association (ECA) and PSG, Nasser Al-Khelaïfi, explained that there was no question of even discussing this subject: “For us it is not a idea so useless to discuss it. It does not exist “.
UEFA, COMNEBOL and many national leagues had positioned themselves against this project from its inception. Conversely, the African confederation was rather favorable to this idea wanted by Gianni Infantino. The AFC, it had not expressed itself on this proposal, keeping a certain reserve.
Finally, Noël Le Graët, president of the FFF, had surprisingly taken his European counterparts on the wrong foot, acknowledging “not to be against” a World Cup every two years, in particular for economic reasons.