Arsenal have changed dramatically since Arsene Wenger left the club, they say.Yes, that’s probably true. But no one talks about how much Wenger himself has changed also. Once a football idealist who needed a few years to impose his philosophy on a stubborn, old-fashioned British sports tradition, he has become a bit of a ruthless profit-oriented bureaucrat. ##NAJAVA_MECA_5805738##Together with his new friends at FIFA, the Frenchman proposes radical improvements (are they improvements?) regarding international football. To make a long story short, his idea is to shorten the period between the World Cups and organize them every two years instead of four, as it stands ever since the maiden tournament in 1930. In May, FIFA’s members approved the launch of a feasibility study looking into staging the World Cup every two years after the Saudi Arabian Football Federation submitted the proposal.FIFA’s president Gianni Infantino suggested he is in favour of the change after the FIFA congress in May, saying at a press conference: “You don’t need to be an Einstein to know that if you have the World Cup every two years, you double the revenue.”We have to go into these studies with an open mind. We know about the value of the World Cup and the impact of the World Cup.”Let us translate you – we want a profit, and now we are just finding ways to make this possible and, somehow, acceptable in terms of public support.##EDITORS_CHOICE##But that will be a two-way street for Wenger and co. since many players have already raised their voice against the biennial World Cup. Barcelona captain Sergio Busquets warned there are only so many competitions that players will be able to withstand physically.Busquets against Sweden a few days ago (©Michael Campanella/Getty Images)”On the World Cup every two years, [the players] have little say on that [decision],” Busquets said at a press conference.”We just see the calendar has become busier and busier, and they do not care about the players.”They want more Euros, more World Cups, more club World Cups, more league games, more games for every competition. “There will be a moment when the players will explode because the games are becoming more and more demanding, and we have less time to rest.”So it is so difficult to handle as we have seen recently with this pandemic, where some different competitions have clashed.”All of this will bring some consequences, so it would be necessary to have a meeting and listen to all the parties, “concluded Busquets.UEFA is enlisting the support of Europe’s biggest clubs to oppose FIFA’s proposal for a biennial World Cup. pic.twitter.com/eFqZwBSCyO— Leelafootballnews (@Leelafootball2) September 6, 2021 Unlike him, England boss Gareth Southgate says he is “open-minded” about holding the World Cup every two years and has spoken to Arsene Wenger about the proposal.Wenger shakes hands with Southgate (©therine Ivill – AMA/Getty Images)After England’s 4-0 World Cup qualifying win over Andorra on Sunday, Southgate revealed that he had spoken to the Frenchman about the proposals and that he is open to the possibility – as long as the football calendar does not become overloaded.”I think the whole calendar needs reviewing,” he said. “My feedback would be – I don’t know how our generation is going to find a World Cup every two years a strange concept.”But I also know that things like The Hundred in cricket have been an incredible success, so I’m open-minded about some of those things. But the calendar generally needs to be tidied up. We can’t keep adding more things in.”I generally agree with the concept of better-quality matches – fewer matches, better quality across the board, but there are lots of other things that need consideration, and we can’t just add more in at the moment.”On Monday, UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin warned that holding the World Cup every two years would “dilute” the tournament.UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin (© REUTERS/Murad Sezer)”We think that the jewel of the World Cup has value precisely because of its rarity,” Ceferin said at a general assembly of the European Club Association.”But holding it every two years, will in our opinion, lead to more randomization, less legitimacy, and it will, unfortunately, dilute the World Cup itself.”Last but not least, Nasser Al-Khelaifi, European Clubs’ Association (ECA) chairman and PSG president, knocked down Wenger’s suggestion.A hit in the gut for Real Madrid – PSG president insists Kylian Mbappe will never leaveAl-Khelaifi stated that FIFA’s perspective overhaul of the international calendar requires “honest participation, not unilateral and self-interested decisions,” before warning that the alterations may jeopardize “players’ health and well-being – and the clubs carry all the risk.””International competition cannot suffocate fans’ and players’ connections to clubs, without which international competition wouldn’t exist,” he added.
