FIFA are considering setting up a new competition if their plan to hold a World Cup every two years is thwarted. Determined to increase revenues, they are alighted on the idea of staging the World Cup biennially as the optimum way to achieve this.
However, given the hostility of the two biggest football confederations – UEFA and CONMEBOL – the idea is likely not to gain serious traction.
Women’s football is also opposed to the idea, fearing distraction of global attention from efforts to develop their own sport.
While a two-year World Cup cycle has broad appeal for confederations where teams are less well off financially, FIFA are aware of the fact that a World Cup without European and South American nations will be devalued.
Of course, there is precedent for this in other sports. Baseball, after all, has a World Series when there are only teams from America and a handful of Canadian franchises competing for it!).
An alternative that has been proposed is to set up a global Nations League instead.
They have borrowed the idea from UEFA, who instigated the Nations League as a way of introducing a competitive element to matches between countries outside major international tournaments like the World Cup and the Euros, as many players and fans did not appear to be interested in a series of meaningless friendlies.
FIFA believe that the idea will have broad appeal to television audiences worldwide and sponsors, with the best countries meeting more often on a global stage than once every four years
The new brainchild will replace the Confederations Cup, an eight-team tournament held as a World Cup warm-up event (but not organised since 2017) that attracted little notice except among the participating countries.
A summit to discuss the plan further will be held on 20 December.
As is often the case, the one group that has not been consulted are the players, who will be expected to play in these tournaments in addition to their existing workloads. Extensive travel may also be involved in some cases.
FIFA appear to have little care that they might be killing the golden goose.