Biennial World Cup Could Be Coming, President Gianni Infantino Says

FIFA‘s “global summit” was held to discuss increasing the occurrence of the World Cup from every four years to every two years. President Gianni Infantino says he believes if a vote was held, the proposal would win the majority vote. The move would generate an additional $4.4 billion in revenue over four years. This change is possible with men and women’s international schedules expiring in 2023 and 2024.

There is no vote scheduled at this time. Speculation is that the vote could take place at the FIFA congress at the end of March, but Infantino will not commit to a date.

“It is about getting the right decisions for football at the end of the day and we will take the time that it takes, to come to this decision,” Infantino said. “I will not commit to anything at the congress. Everything is open and flexible.”

Right now, the South American and European football organizations are not in favor of the biennial World Cup. They want an expanded Champions League, which is currently an annual competition between the top clubs in Europe that includes a round-robin, double-legged knockout and single-legged final. The Confederation of African Football plans to back the biennial proposal.

CONCACAF president Victor Montagliani, who is the head of the north, central and Caribbean association of football, has proposed a different format where the Confederations Cup is brought back with a new qualifying process, rather than having a full World Cup every two years. The Confederations Cup was originally abolished in 2019.

FIFA said that the additional funds from a biennial World Cup would be used to “help reduce the gap in revenues between the developed and less developed football markets.”