UEFA has distanced itself from FIFA’s plans for a biennial World Cup in a statement. The World Football Association ordered in May to investigate the possibility of a biennial world championship with effect from 2028, but UEFA as a European association does not see that at all.
The statement mentions four ‘real dangers’ that are linked to the plans according to UEFA. For example, the union fears “the dilution of the value of the number one world football event, whose four-yearly event gives a mystique that generations of fans have grown up with.” UEFA also fears that weaker national teams will be disadvantaged by replacing regular matches with final tournaments, for which they often do not qualify.
Furthermore, the European federation points to the load capacity of the players, who are then forced to participate in high-intensity summer tournaments every year instead of a long summer holiday in odd years. In FIFA’s plans, the European Championship will be moved: a World Cup in 2026, a European Championship in 2027 and another World Cup in 2028, and so on. UEFA also sees a risk for the future of women’s tournaments, because more men’s tournaments will be played at the same time as the women, which threatens to overshadow the women’s tournaments.
These are just some of the serious concerns the federation has about FIFA’s proposal, according to UEFA. On September 14, UEFA and its 55 affiliates asked FIFA to organize a special meeting with them to express their concerns about the impact of such plans. UEFA has not yet received a response from FIFA to this request.