Fifa mulls holding World Cup every alternate year

Conmebol have put forward a proposal to Fifa arguing that the World Cup should take place every two years rather than four, president Alejandro Dominguez Wilson-Smith has confirmed.

While there have been discussions about expanding the Uefa Nations League to South American countries, and the latter are open to that, the federation chief has put on the table an alternative suggestion that the World Cup changes its cycle.

It was an idea previously raised by former Fifa president Sepp Blatter, only to be dismissed at the time, but Dominguez argues that the change would make sense both economically for the game and in terms of players’ careers, as they would have more opportunities to appear in the sport’s great showpiece.

The proposal was tabled at the Fifa congress in Kigali last month.

“I always say we we have to work together and never say ‘no’, I always say ‘why not?’” Dominguez said in an interview ahead of Saturday’s Copa Libertadores final in Buenos Aires. “By saying that, we always will support an idea like that, or a proposal like we have done to Fifa, to do the World Cup every two years and not every four.

“Instead of having a Nations League in between, we can just go ahead every years and do a World Cup that is for everyone, for the players because at the moment sometimes they could play four World Cups if we move to a two-year cycle. If we stay with this format, many players could not play more than two.

“So we see an opportunity there and there is a proposal put forward to Fifa to take it over and say whether it is a global Nations League or is there an opportunity to play World Cup every two years. I would say there are many other solutions, we can move to Europe, Africa, Asia, North America, South America (without such a long wait). In terms of economics, I would say Fifa could make money, to give more money.” THE INDEPENDENT