Football governing body FIFA has invited all the domestic football associations for an online summit on the 30th of September to discuss the biennial World Cup proposal. This proposal made by former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger in March is set to be a topic of discussion with the member associations as part of plans to reform the international calendar.
International Match Calendar – New consultation phase
FIFA has reached out to its member associations and other stakeholders (representatives of the players, clubs, leagues, confederations) marking the beginning of a new phase of consultation.
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— FIFA Media (@fifamedia) September 20, 2021
FIFA has put out a statement, in this regard, saying that there is broad consensus among many to reform and improve the international match calendar. The statement continues saying that following invitation to all the stakeholders, which includes all confederations at the beginning of September, they will conduct discussions about this in the coming weeks. They ended by talking about the invite to all the member associations to an online summit on the 30th of September and the organisation thinks that it will be an opportunity to establish a constructive and open debate, at a global and regional level.
This proposal was made in March by former Arsenal manager and current FIFA global football development head Arsene Wenger. The idea was to have a tournament each year from 2025-26. There will be alternating World Cups and continental cups like the Euros and the Copa America.
UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin has come out strongly against the proposal and threatened that European nations would boycott a biennial World Cup. The South American confederation CONMEBOL also has supported the UEFA on this saying that the idea has no sporting justification. FIFA president Gianni Infantino has promised a decision on this would be made by the end of the year. Last week, FIFA had come out saying that majority of fans support the biennial World Cup proposal which is in total contrast to the opposition of various national supporters groups worldwide.
