FIFA: The majority of football fans welcome the holding of the World Cup every two years

The majority of football fans support holding the World Cup "more frequently" (every two years), according to an online poll published by the International Federation of the game (FIFA) today, in the midst of a debate about the project to hold it once every two years instead of four as is currently the case.

According to a study conducted by (Iris / YouGov) on 15,000 people "interested in football" and published by the International Federation, most of them want to see the most important international competition in the world in less than four years.

But the study shows strong differences in terms of geographic areas and the ages of respondents.

"Young generations in all regions" and "developing markets" are the most welcoming of this idea, while the older football fans remain more loyal to the quadrennial tournament as has been the case since 1930. This is followed by an "expanded" survey of 100,000 people. in "more than a hundred countries".

The idea of ​​organizing the World Cup once every two years, which appeared in vain in the 1990s, was floated in early March by the former Arsenal coach and current FIFA development director, French Arsene Wenger, and emerged strongly last week by the opposing parties. FIFA launched a "feasibility study" proposed by the Saudi Federation for the Game, which is close to the Swiss-Italian FIFA President Gianni Infantino, during the 71st FIFA General Assembly meeting, which was held on May 21, 2021.

However, FIFA's proposals met with objections, especially from the President of the European Union (UEFA) Slovenian Aleksandar Ceferin, considering that this plan would "weak" the World Cup, while the World Leagues Forum considered it "undermining" the welfare of the players, and CONMEBOL considered that shortening the interval "is not justified by Sports side.


One of the most prominent arguments for its establishment every two years is that it may bring additional revenue to be distributed to federations in Africa, Asia and South America, which are highly dependent on FIFA financing compared to the rich European federations.

According to Wenger, the idea would be to hold the finals each summer from the 2025-2026 season, alternating between the World Cup and continental tournaments such as the European Cup and Copa America, with the qualifiers grouped into one month: October, or two months: October and March.

Wenger avoided the risk of overburdening international players a little more, as they would make fewer long trips and benefit from "at least 25 days" of rest after their summer competitions with their national teams.

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