The IOC receives FIFA’s project for a World Cup every two years with distance and coolness, knowing UEFA is a key ally

When a project seems not only dangerous, but also not very rational, sometimes the best option is to dismiss it with a short sentence and a certain disdain.

This is what the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Thomas Bach, did on Wednesday when asked for his opinion on FIFA’s increasingly real project to organize a World Cup every two years, instead of every four years as has been the case since 1930.

“This is an issue to be decided by FIFA and the continental associations. We are closely following and monitoring these discussions and find them very interesting,” Bach told a press conference after the executive committee meeting.

The German leader’s “very interesting” is loaded with subtle irony, even if it refers to FIFA’s internal discussions. The project is far from being interesting for the IOC, it is, rather, a danger.

If the idea of making the World Cup biennial from 2028 onwards goes ahead, the Los Angeles 2028 Games will share the Northern Hemisphere summer with a World Cup, and the same will happen in 2032 with Brisbane.

At the insistence of journalists and the mention of the unfeasibility of the Games and the World Cup sharing close weeks in the calendar, Bach expanded a little more.

“We’ll not interfere in these discussions. You hear so many voices every day coming from different directions. The facts you are describing are very clear, they have been made by different participants in the discussions. I will not put fuel to the fire of this. Let this discussion evolve, the potential consequences of such a move becoming clearer within FIFA”.

In this response, Bach was less elliptical and diplomatic: he spoke of fire, and of his decision not to fuel it. He wants to see how everything evolves and then he will decide what steps to take.

The German knows that Infantino has a serious obstacle to the project, which relies on Saudi money: the opposition of Slovenian Aleksandr Ceferin, president of UEFA.

“Holding it every two years will lead to less legitimacy and dilute the World Cup itself,” Ceferin said recently.

“We think there is a space for everything and both national teams and clubs are fully occupying that physical and commercial space.“

The Slovenian’s opposition is no small matter. Ceferin and Infantino reached the top of their organizations almost coincidentally, and, since then, the European soccer chief has been the Swiss-Italian’s great opponent.

Infantino, in turn, had less of an easy time at the IOC than men like Joseph Blatter or Joao Havelange: he has been in office since February 2016, but needed four years to be inducted as a member. What was historically a given, an automatism - the FIFA president as an IOC member - had become a thorny issue due to the systemic corruption that decapitated world soccer’s governing body from May 2015.

Some of that was seen in Infantino’s election to the post: he received 13 votes against, an unusual number.

Having the World Cup every two years would be great news for FIFA, despite warnings from many, including Ceferin, about the potential loss of importance of the tournament. And the Slovenian is no coincidence: a World Cup every two years also complicates the European Championship, which is played precisely two years after and two years before the World Cup.

Infantino’s project is a danger for both Ceferin and Bach.

UEFA generates four times more money than FIFA and has in the Champions League a jewel of annual periodicity. The World Cup, on the other hand, is only played every four years, which is why Infantino needs a new and powerful product for FIFA to have permanent prominence and higher revenues. And the World Cup is the best product FIFA has.

“At UEFA we take care of soccer, at FIFA they do politics,” sums up Ceferin when asked about the difference between the two organizations.

Infantino insisted this week, during the general assembly of the European Club Association (ECA), on his project to radically change the soccer calendar: “The current match calendar shows us that we have reached some limits... we have to have a system that is simple, which clearly defines when there are national team games and when there are club games”.

The specialized magazine “Four Four Two” had its eye on the continental qualifiers, which could disappear in the face of FIFA’s project. UEFA, moreover, is already competing in this field with the League of Nations.

“Arsene Wenger’s plan, following a proposal from the Saudi Arabian FA, of staging a World Cup every two years might seem a welcome antidote to qualifiers (...). Those who are bored by qualifiers can be energised come tournament summers”.

Ceferin and Bach are geographically close. The Slovenian’s office in the Swiss town of Nyon overlooks the same waters as the IOC’s office in Lausanne. Zurich, home of FIFA, is much farther away.

When the Covid-19 pandemic forced the postponement of Tokyo 2020 and the European Championships, Bach and Ceferin met in person to try to coordinate actions. Now, with a FIFA project that annoys both of them greatly, it would not be surprising if they meet more frequently to coordinate the neutralization of the project.

It remains to be seen what position the president of the South American Football Confederation (Conmebol), the Paraguayan Alejandro Domínguez, will take. Very close to Infantino at the beginning of their mandate, Dominguez has recently formed a de facto alliance with Ceferin.

What if the World Cup were played every two years, but in odd-numbered years, Bach was asked. Is FIFA consulting the IOC?

A question that could also be phrased as follows: did IOC member Infantino talk to the IOC president? The problem is that the FIFA president, historically, considers himself to have more power and influence than the IOC president. Why should he then ask the IOC for permission?

Because it’s not just about the FIFA president. To carry out a biennial World Cup with the closed opposition of UEFA is unfeasible for FIFA. Put with extreme subtlety, it is something that can be read between the lines in the following response from Bach: “We are following these discussions and we trust that FIFA and the continental associations will come to the right decision”.

KEEP READING: