FIFA International Match Calendar: Proposed Changes & General Discussion

thats really the only thing FIFA can do to win out over the AFCON is to "change the rules" I think there would be a lot of pushback against that, and FIFA would really have to consider if it was worth it. They could technically still have a "successful CWC" (whatever the hell that means, revenues I guess) without the participation of Mane, Salah, and a host of other AFrican stars.

Do you really think the absence of a dozen or so African players would make the CWC a failure ? Is that worth the huge uproar which would result in FIFA stripping the FIFA calender treatment of the AFCON ? I dont think so.

A bienniel nations cup is one too many according to who ? A lot changes in 2 years in the football world. The fans certainly aren't complaining. I mean it could be replaced by a Nations League, but that would be a little anticlimactic IMO.

If another tourneament could be implemented like an expanded Confederations cup, or a tournament with the best African, Asian, Concacaf teams (similar to the old Afro/Asia cup) then I would be for it, but why should the tournament be cut just because some people feel every 2 years is too much ?

Frankly I think what is "too many" is another club competition (CWC) right after a bigger and more important one (champions league) has just finished.

THis really has to be one of FIFA's stupidest decisions, along with expanding the WC to 48 teams. I actually think this one is even worse.

 

Well, the CWC isn’t played during the holidays. Its played when all top UEFA lesgues have a full slate of games scheduled. IOW, its a nussance each year not just in years when English clubs partake in it (EPL clubs just tend to whine more)

 

I thought OFC will get a full spot in 48 team World Cups, so 2022 is the only remaining time they get 0.5.

 

I assumed he was talking about the CWC, in which OFC has a playoff spot against I forget who.

 

Most (all?) UEFA leagues have to postpone the same # of domestic matches in order to play in the CWC (typically 1 league match and 1 cup match). So the fixture/rescheduling issue is similar in other leagues.

I recall Madrid having to play Barcelona on Dec 23rd after travelling back from the CWC recently, for instance.

 

OFC opens against the host, but I haven't seen that called a half spot. The OFC champion is at the same tournament as everyone else. If New Zealand loses the interconfederational playoff, they don't go to the World Cup in an earlier round.

 

They are right now. I think they have a playoff spot in the new expanded tournament.

 

Yes. I saw entry list, it is stated that OFC has 0.5 spots. They technically had 0.5 in this 7-team tournament as they always played hosts in so called preliminary round. Whilst that looks OK, this expanded tournament with each team having guaranteed two matches, Oceanic team once again has to play hosts to reach main round.

 

I don't know if it's been mentioned before here, but ECA favours reducing the number of windows for int'l games each season so, for example, instead of there being four breaks like now (excluding the one in June which occurs after most seasons have finished) there would be four, each containing 3 or 4 games instead of two.

I am against that idea because I think it disrupts the rhythm of int'ls.

 

They will eventually destroy international football... we will see, in 10 years time, what we used to have in basketball. One summer will be reserved for qualification, next summer for finals.

 

But longer intervals between breaks will interrupt the rhythm of int'l competitions, both from sporting and commercial viewpoints.

 

At https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/id...ys-in-september-october-and-november.2035433/ I proposed to have longer breaks in two of September, October, and November rather than a break every month. For players like Messi whose national team and club are far apart, it would reduce his time on planes, and it might reduce the amount of players who retire from their national team while still playing for a club. This year MLS had a week off between the regular season and playoffs when there were FIFA matchdays in October. The UEFA Champions League has one midweek without games when there aren't FIFA matchdays and two midweeks without games when there are FIFA matchdays. If there were two breaks that were each a week longer, there would need to be games on consecutive midweeks, or the time from the first to last matchday would be longer. To conclude, there are positives and negatives about making a change.

 

No European country other than England (& by extension Wales) has the depth of professional clubs that England has. 92 clubs in the Football League plus some of those below that are fully professional. Germany comes closest. This is far more important than European or Global club competition. A 2nd cup competition is part of this. Protecting the viability of those clubs is of greater value than enabling the greed of the biggest clubs.

 

Remember when FIFA wanted to push through the expanded CWC and Nations League simultaneously? The new CWC is consolidating the intl calendar and acting as a catalyst for a global Nations League. The Confederations Cup isn't going anywhere, it will just be replaced down the line when every confederation implements the Nation League system. Africa and Asia already have plans to start the process and Europe and Concacaf had a successful rollout. While I don't see the necessity of the new CWC for various reasons (, I'm grateful that This is the way I see a four-year cycle going:

Yr 1: World Cup
Yr 2: Continental Championships
Yr 3: Club World Cup
Yr 4: Global Nations League

That would mean no biennial African Nations Cup, Gold Cup, or random Copa America. I envision a future combined Concacaf/Conmebol 24-team championship and OFC might merge with AFC to stay relevant. That would essentially make four 24-team continental championships in YR 2 which could be split during the year with regional competitions still taking place at certain points during the four year cycle. YR 3 would start Nations League qualifying which would culminate in the finals of every league in YR 4. Nations League finalists could also automatically qualify for the expanded 48-team World Cup which would reduce the need for WC qualifiers.