Football governing body Fifa will hold an online summit with its member associations on the 30th of September to discuss the international men’s and women’s calendars. The discussion will revolve around the World Cup to be played every two years rather than four, which is Fifa’s plan.
The current match calendar for the women’s game runs to the end of 2023, while the men’s expires in 2024. Fifa, through their spokesperson, said: “There is a broad consensus within the game that the international match calendar should be reformed and improved.”
“This is one of several opportunities to establish a constructive and open debate, at a global and regional level, over the coming months, and Fifa is looking forward to it.” World football’s governing body said former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, the new Fifa’s chief of global football development, and former United States women’s team manager Jill Ellis were heading technical advisory groups looking at the men’s and women’s calendars.
All the different continent football governing bodies, European governing body Uefa, South American confederation Conmebol and other Europe’s major leagues have declared their opposition to plans for a biennial World Cup. England women’s head coach Sarina Wiegman is also against the idea.
According to her, she said: “I wouldn’t do it. I don’t think it’s very good for the players and their welfare.” “It’s Europe. It’s very well organised with good competitions. We have the Euros, then the Olympics, then the World Cup, which are major tournaments for us from Europe.”
She also said: “When you have all these tournaments every year, when are the players going to have some rest? When are they going to recover from a very intense football every year in a row? Players are not robots. I don’t think it’s a very good idea.”
Additionally, the Alliance of European Football Coaches’ Associations (Aefca) has written to Uefa to support its stance on the issue. They said: “The Fifa proposal leads to a considerable increase in the workload for all parties involved, but the already tight timetable does not offer any space for this,” wrote Aefca president Walter Gagg and secretary-general Jurgen Pforr.”
“This proposal to hold the World Cup every two years has a purely commercial background and is the continuation of a whole series of unsuitable Fifa proposals from recent years.” A Survey which was commissioned by Fifa shows that majority of fans would support a men’s World Cup more frequently than every four years, although the most popular answer across all age groups was to maintain the status quo.