FIFA is considering holding the World Cup finals every 3 years, instead of the current system that takes place every 4 years, according to British news reports, today, Wednesday.
Reports indicated that these plans come after the postponement of plans to hold the World Cup every two years.
The British newspapers “The Guardian” and “Daily Mail” stated that holding the World Cup every 3 years may gain the support of the African and Asian Confederations for the game, and it will be part of a radical change in the agenda of annual international matches after 2030.
World Cup 2026
The next World Cup in 2026 may witness a further expansion, after FIFA’s decision to increase the number of teams participating in the tournament from 32 to 48.
It was decided to distribute the participating teams in that version, which will be hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico, into 16 groups, with 3 teams in each, but proposals have recently appeared regarding the formation of groups of 4 teams, which means distributing the participants to 12 groups.
If this proposal is implemented, the number of World Cup matches will increase from 64 matches, as is the case now, to 104 matches.
Increased billion profits
All of these plans are expected to increase the revenues of FIFA, which news reports said made record profits of about $7.5 billion from the Qatar 2022 World Cup, which ended last Sunday.
FIFA distributes the vast majority of its profits to its 211 member associations.
The Swiss Gianni Infantino, FIFA President, who may continue in office until 2031, also announced the establishment of the Club World Cup, with the participation of 32 teams, starting with the 2025 edition of the competition.
It is noteworthy that the World Cup finals have been held every 4 years since the launch of its first edition in 1930, and FIFA put forward the idea of holding it every two years, but this proposal was met with strong rejection from the South American and European federations, who also oppose the idea of holding the competition every 3 years.