Arsene Wenger's plan to destroy soccer - Biannual World Cup

[Captain Ron 13094]

Surprised this didn't get much talk over the break, but it appears that the powers that be in soccer can't help themselves and must always have a plan in place to destroy soccer.

Last time is was Real Madrid, this time it is FIFA, under the direction of their head of Global Football Development - Arsene Wenger. The plan is simple - a World Cup every 2 years.

Because people love more meaningful matches, why not have the World Cup every 2 years? Then just about every international match is meaningful. Instead of friendlies, basically if it's not in a tournament, it's a qualifier. It would be great!!

There are a few moving parts to this, the goal is to leave the balance of play 80/20 (club play/international play), but not disrupt each schedule as much. The key is that qualifiers would have a single block that starts in October of 4-5 weeks where you qualify for the next tournament. And the summer would be some international tournament or tournaments. So if you started the clock now, it would be:
Oct 2021 - qualify for World Cup 2022
Summer 2022 - World Cup 
Oct 2022 - qualify for Euro 2023, Gold Cup, etc
Summer 2023 - Continental tournaments
Oct 2023 - qualify for World Cup 2024
Summer 2024 - World Cup 

Wash, rinse, repeat

What's not to love?

Basically you are forcing your confederations to move to a 2 year cycle on tournaments too.
I mean with all these meaningful matches, why not grind the players down further? Why not dilute the fact that World Cups are rare? Why not continue to chance the money? Why not just continue to milk you fans throwing more "meaningful" games in their face?

Not really a fan of this at all. And public sentiment seems to be similar. The fans just don't love this. It very much dilutes the product of international soccer. What makes the World Cup glorious is that you have such a small window to get in there. That would go away with this plan. I mean, the Gold Cup sucks, but part of it's suckage is the fact its played ALL THE TIME.

Thoughts?

[Juicy 729]

If I was a player I would hate it, as a fan. Fuck yes. Give it all to me. 

[Dutch 4533]

Apparently UEFA and CONMEBOL don't approve and stated they may boycott. This appears nothing more than a rank money grab by FIFA, as it seems everything is in sports these days. Put me down for loving the WC every four years; it makes each one so much more important than if it occurred biennially. 

Spoiler

UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin has raised the stakes in the row over plans to hold the World Cup every two years by telling world football’s governing body FIFA that European and South American countries would boycott the tournament.

Speaking at the European Club Association’s meeting on Monday, Ceferin said he believes biennial World Cups would “dilute” their prestige and quality, but the European football chief went even further on Thursday.

“We can decide not to play in it,” the 53-year-old Slovenian told The Times newspaper.

“As far as I know, the South Americans are on the same page. So good luck with a World Cup like that.

“I think it will never happen as it is so much against the basic principles of football. To play every summer a one-month tournament, for the players it's a killer. If it's every two years it clashes with the women's World Cup, with the Olympic football tournament.

“The value is precisely because it is every four years, you wait for it, it's like the Olympic Games, it's a huge event. I don't see our federations supporting that.”

https://theathletic.com/news/europe-and-south-america-would-boycott-biennial-world-cup-ceferin-tells-fifa/i9nMrgkWc723

[Surly Bevo 25654]

Wenger Out?

[ztejas 44114]

I think Wenger would get stabbed in Brazil if he brought this up in a bar. 

[Captain Ron 13094]

1 hour ago, Juicy said:

If I was a player I would hate it, as a fan. Fuck yes. Give it all to me. 

Part 1 I agree
Part 2 I disagree, because in running down the players, you don't just ruin international soccer, you ruin club soccer too. All of the professional leagues in Europe would majorly suffer due to this. It wouldn't be good. As it is now, players can be seen being worn out due to:

• International play (especially now with idiotic nations leagues)
• Domstic Leagues
• Domestic Cups (sometimes two of them)
• Continental European Leagues

These guys are basically playing year around and it shows as these guys start to wear down and the soccer just starts to drop off.

 

1 hour ago, Dutch said:

Apparently UEFA and CONMEBOL don't approve and stated they may boycott. This appears nothing more than a rank money grab by FIFA, as it seems everything is in sports these days. Put me down for loving the WC every four years; it makes each one so much more important than if it occurred biennially. 

  Reveal hidden contents

UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin has raised the stakes in the row over plans to hold the World Cup every two years by telling world football’s governing body FIFA that European and South American countries would boycott the tournament.

Speaking at the European Club Association’s meeting on Monday, Ceferin said he believes biennial World Cups would “dilute” their prestige and quality, but the European football chief went even further on Thursday.

“We can decide not to play in it,” the 53-year-old Slovenian told The Times newspaper.

“As far as I know, the South Americans are on the same page. So good luck with a World Cup like that.

“I think it will never happen as it is so much against the basic principles of football. To play every summer a one-month tournament, for the players it's a killer. If it's every two years it clashes with the women's World Cup, with the Olympic football tournament.

“The value is precisely because it is every four years, you wait for it, it's like the Olympic Games, it's a huge event. I don't see our federations supporting that.”

https://theathletic.com/news/europe-and-south-america-would-boycott-biennial-world-cup-ceferin-tells-fifa/i9nMrgkWc723

 

And yes, this is a total money grab. At this point it's basically a whole power struggle of controlling soccer. Right now UEFA has a lot of power, they have the annual Champions League, Euro as a tournament that closely rivals the World Cup. FIFA tried to make inroads with their Club World Cup. They supported the Super League (until they didn't) because they knew it would sap some power from UEFA. And now they try this.

The worst part is that most of the leagues & confederations are just along for the ride. Their lack of power and money forces them to just go along to get along. It's easy to talk boycott, but to do it?

 

51 minutes ago, Surly Bevo said:

Wenger Out?

 

[maninblack 7975]

Awful

[406W30th 1111]

When I first heard about it I thought maybe it had some merit – if Wenger had a big part in it, I would assume it was well thought-out and had some good and valid ideas.

Then I read the plan. It fuckin sucks and I have no idea why Wenger would back it, except that I guess he's a complete sell out?

 

[Captain Ron 13094]

Because we have a thread for this ...

 

6 hours ago, ztejas said:

https://www.espn.com/sports/soccer/story/_/id/32242503/fifa-soccer-leaders-set-begin-talks-hold-world-cup-every-two-years

Cool

 

37 minutes ago, Schulz2.0 said:

 

[shnsajax 3605]

Fuck that.

Give me more things like this:
https://www.espn.com/soccer/major-league-soccer/story/4480295/mlsliga-mx-plan-revamped-leagues-cup-in-2023-with-all-47-teams

[Napoleon 8800]

UEFA & CONMEBOL can skip every-other-cup and you can call those shitty ones…

The Shoeshiners’ Cup