By Andrew Warshaw
February 16 – FIFA’s biennial World Cup drive has suffered yet another setback after global players’ union FIFPRO revealed its members overwhelmingly oppose the idea.
FIFPRO has released a study showing that 75% of professional male footballers are against proposals to hold the tournament every two years as trumpeted by FIFA president Gianni Infantino and his head of football development Arsene Wenger.
FIFA are still pushing the idea despite opposition from UEFA, CONMEBOL and several of Europe’s leading domestic competitions, football stakeholders, the International Olympic Committee and even a number of government bodies
FIFPRO’s survey found that three-quarters of male professionals want to retain the status quo after canvassing the opinions of 1,055 players across six continents. The regional breakdown showed that 77% of players from both Europe and Asia prefer the World Cup to stay at every four years, with 63% of footballers from the Americas sharing that view.
Only in Africa, whose confederation is the only one publicly backing Infantino, did the biennial concept prove popular among players – but not conclusively. While only 49% favoured keeping the World Cup at every four years, the remaining 51% were split between a two or three-year cycle, the survey showed.
FIFA has put forward a number of former players from its ‘Legends’ programme to promote increasing the frequency of the World Cup but the opposition from active players clearly negates their view.
“The player survey shows most footballers around the world have a clear preference to play the World Cup every four years,” said FIFPRO General Secretary Jonas Baer-Hoffmann (pictured) whose organisation represents more than 65,000 professional male and female footballers from 67 countries.
“At the same time, the results demonstrate the importance of domestic league competitions to players.
“These leagues are the bedrock of our game and we have to do more to strengthen them both for the sake of players and the overall stability of professional football.”
Baer-Hoffmann said players were concerned not only about the health risks of playing more football but also the commercial value in holding the tournament more frequently.
“There are various reasons – from the load to them being fathers and mothers of children and husbands and wives of spouses – but there is also an understanding that there’s a certain value in the scarcity of the World Cup. If you just provide the same thing [more often] then it might not have the same appeal.”
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