"It is not a question of determining a date, but of making the right decisions for football (...), so we will take the time it takes", explained to the press Gianni Infantino, the boss of the 'instance, refusing to schedule a vote at the next Congress on March 31, 2022.

To each of its 211 member federations, Fifa has promised an additional 19 million dollars (16.8 million euros) per four-year cycle, if it manages to double the frequency of its flagship competition beyond 2024.

This "solidarity funding", identical for Andorra, the Virgin Islands, Brazil or Germany, would therefore quadruple from around 6 million to 25 million dollars over four years, considerably strengthening the redistributive role and political weight of Fifa.

The organization relies for this on a study by the Nielsen cabinet, for which the revenues from the World Cup would soar by 4.4 billion dollars (3.9 billion euros) over four years if it became biennial, with a jump in ticketing, TV rights and sponsorship.

Chances of "shining"

However, Fifa does not reveal the methodology of this study, while the ability of broadcasters to pay more and more is discussed by sports economists, and does not quantify the impact on championships and continental competitions either.

The body is only committed to finding "a solution that benefits everyone, without penalizing anyone".

However, his project is currently anything but consensual and has revived the dividing lines between club and national football, large and small countries.

What impact on the health of the players, the economy of domestic competitions, the clubs forced to release their internationals, the supporters who save money and leave to support their selection, and even the audience of other sports and the Summer Olympics ?

Fifa for the first time quantified on Monday the expected impact of a World Cup every two years, without setting a deadline for this controversial project OZAN KOSE AFP / Archives

So many questions hotly debated this fall, even if Fifa insists on the increased chances "to shine" that it wants to offer to the players, and on the reduction in the number of international truces inflicted each year on the clubs.

But at the head of the refusal front, UEFA produced a study assuring that a biennial World Cup would reduce the revenues of European federations, by around 2.5 to 3 billion euros over four years.

Transatlantic Alliance

The World League Forum, which represents around 40 professional championships, for its part estimated that domestic competitions could lose up to $ 8.5 billion (7.5 billion euros) in revenue per season.

"Historical trajectories do not show any negative correlation between the income generated by the final stages in selection and the leagues," Fifa cautiously replied on Monday, while the championships remain the basis of the football economy.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino, October 20, 2021 at the institution's headquarters in Zurich Harold Cunningham FIFA / AFP / Archives

If the body is procrastinating, it is because obtaining the approval of a majority of federations does not protect it from retaliations from confederations or clubs, likely to upset the whole edifice of football.

On Friday, UEFA confirmed to AFP that it was "working" on a "Common Nations League" with the South American teams, which would in fact bring together the best national teams in the world with the face and beard of Fifa.

In addition, the powerful European Association of Clubs (ECA) demanded in September "a joint approval of the international calendar" with Fifa, thus claiming a right of veto.

However, the 247 clubs represented by the ECA each have a means of pressure: they are the employers of most of the internationals engaged in the major final stages, and can challenge in court the obligation to make them available.

© 2021 AFP