Only winner in biennial World Cup plan is FIFA bank
LONDON — FIFA President Gianni Infantino found a curious salesman to push his plan to double the frequency of World Cups: a coach who spent his career until now complaining about the spate of international tournaments.
Three years after leaving Arsenal, Arsene Wenger is trying to sell the merits of a biennial World Cup rather than waiting four years between tournaments.
Infantino, who publicly seems to prioritize introducing more and bigger competitions run by FIFA rather than more pressing matters such as new strategies to tackle racism in the game, has already managed to expand the World Cup from 32 to 48 teams starting in 2026.
FIFA argues it is acting purely in the interests of what is best for world football.
But the process that led to the addition of 16 teams at the World Cup shows that isn’t exactly the case. FIFA’s own feasibility study in 2016 — months into Infantino’s first term as Sepp Blatter’s successor — found that “the highest absolute quality would be achieved under the current format.”
That was ignored. It’s not hard to see why.
Giving more countries the chance of competing in the World Cup, and promises of more cash handouts, panders to more of the 211 national federations whose reelection votes he requires. There is rarely dissent at a FIFA Congress. Is it any wonder 166 nations voted in favor of a feasibility study on biennial World Cups?
Dangling the prospect of more cash and more tournament slots is irresistible to many federations. How many will pause to think about the damage to the prestige and appeal of the tournament by staging it more often, let alone the additional burden already placed on overstretched players? Money talks.
The FIFA delegates were told the proposal for the feasibility study came from Saudi Arabia’s federation. Officially, a sponsor was required to get it on the congress agenda. But the plan had been in the works long before May, with Infantino talking up the merits of biennial World Cups in advance of the Saudi proposal existing. Infantino has shown little hesitation for meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh, overlooking concerns about Saudi human rights violations and piracy of FIFA’s own broadcasts linked to the kingdom.
FIFA would not discuss the supposed role of the Saudis when approached by The Associated Press. Infantino has also rejected repeated offers to discuss in depth his World Cup plans.
FIFA did, however, challenge the AP’s right in an article last month to use a quote that came from Infantino’s own mouth in May.
“You don’t need to be an Einstein,” Infantino said, “to know that if you have two World Cups in four years you will double the revenues.”
He followed that up by confusingly saying: “This will not happen.”
That could be because the value of a World Cup is actually in its infrequency. The appeal to broadcasters who fund FIFA is the rarity of the tournament — just as Olympic medals are awarded only every four years. The risk is broadcasters have no extra cash to pay for more events.
More frequent World Cups don’t automatically translate into more countries qualifying for the World Cup.
There are many flaws FIFA has yet explained in public.
More World Cups could actually create fewer opportunities for players to break into their national teams. To find the space in the calendar after 2024 for more World Cups, FIFA is looking at reducing the number of international breaks which are currently in March, June, September, October and November.