October 1 – France has emerged as the first major European footballing country to give tacit conditional approval to staging the World Cup every two years.
French FA president Noel Le Graet (pictured) says he is “not opposed” to the highly controversial idea following’s FIFA’s online summit with its member associations to discuss the project.
“It would be a mistake not to look into this,” the veteran Le Graet, 79, told Friday’s edition of sports daily L’Equipe. “Personally, I am not opposed to the idea, but I wouldn’t give carte blanche to it either.
“I need to know if this project will enrich or impoverish the French Federation, of which I am the president.”
Le Graet said he was “very favourable” to the idea of staging biennial women’s World Cups “as long as they are played in winter and not in summer when it would be too close to the men’s”.
Le Graet’s stance will not sit well with the UEFA heirarchy which is vehemently against the biennial project. UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin has already warned it would “dilute” the tournament and that Europe could stage a boycott if such a radical change to the status quo takes place.
In contrast to Le Graet, France manager Didier Deschamps – who led Les Bleus to World Cup glory in Russia in 2018 – said that playing the World Cup more regularly would “trivialise” the showpiece event.
“To be honest, my first feeling in my playing career, being able to move on to a World Cup every two years, it makes me feel like I’m trivialising it,” Deschamps told reporters on Thursday.
“That’s the best word I can think of. I do not have all the ins and outs. I will not be the expert but until now, every four years, it was very good like that. We are used to it.”
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