FIFA President Foresees Biennial Euros

The two biggest international soccer tournaments could both double in frequency, should FIFA successfully institute biennial World Cups.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino told Italian station Radio Anch’io that the Euros “would also take place every two years” if plans to do so for the World Cup materialize.

At present, both tournaments happen once every four years and are timed to not overlap.

• A biennial World Cup could create an extra $4.4 billion in revenues for FIFA in the first four-year cycle, according to a Nielsen study.
• A separate study, commissioned by domestic leagues, found that UEFA and those leagues would collectively lose $9 billion from FIFA’s plan.

Mass Opposition

UEFA, CONCACAF, the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, the European Club Association, and Adidas CEO Kasper Rørsted have all come out against the proposal.

However, Infantino told reporters in December that he believes the idea has majority support among FIFA’s members.

The issue could come before a vote at the FIFA congress in Doha on March 31, but Infantino has not yet committed to that.

CONCACAF president Victor Montagliani has floated a compromise which would add more global tournaments instead of World Cups, such as a revised Confederations Cup — a FIFA-run tournament that ran from 2001 to 2017.