Infantino distances FIFA from proposed biennial World Cups

FIFA President Gianni Infantino has distanced himself from a proposal to double the number of men’s and women’s World Cups in football, claiming the International Federation has not proposed a biennial World Cup.

During his address at the 72nd FIFA Congress in Qatar, Infantino suggested that FIFA had merely “studied the feasibility”.

“Let me be very clear that FIFA has not proposed a biennial World Cup,” Infantino said.

“Let’s get the process clear here. The last FIFA Congress asked the FIFA administration with a vote, which 88 per cent voted in favour, to study the feasibility of a World Cup every two years and some other projects related to women’s football and youth football.

“The FIFA administration, under the leadership of [FIFA chief of global football development] Arsène Wenger, did exactly that.

“We studied the feasibility. But FIFA did not propose anything. FIFA came to the conclusion that it is feasible, but would it have some repercussions and impacts.”

While momentum appears to have stalled towards the drastic changes, Infantino did not shelve the proposals and insisted discussion over reforms to the international football calendar should be ongoing.

“Once this was certified, the next phase starts, and it is the phase of consultation,” he said.

“It’s the phase of discussion. It’s the phase of trying to find agreements and compromises.”

A proposal from the Saudi Arabian Football Federation for exploring the possibility of staging the World Cup and Women’s World Cup every two years was passed at last year’s Congress.

Infantino argued at a global summit in December last year that a biennial World Cup would deliver an additional $4.4 billion (£3.3 billion/€3.9 billion) in revenue in the first four-year cycle.