Might as well just combine the Word Cup and Confed Cup into one big 84-team tournament held annually in Bhutan or something like that...
I was going to suggest that might want to combine the World Cup and the Club World Cup. But then I realised there are people in this process who are already thinking that. And then I was sad. J
Sorry I meant combine the World Cup and Club World Cup into one competition Players playing for both teams could swap jerseys at halftime or something like that...
You might recall that someone on this board effectively suggested this recently - in that teams could "call up" players from countries that hadn't qualified. Wouldn't seem much different from creating a couple of clubs from those countries to fill out a 48 team competition. Oh no ... I might have suggested that out loud. J
No, you can't blame this on the clubs, they're just trying to get theirs. If FIFA wants to make a competing friendly tourney, that's great. Just keep it friendly, the official world title format is fine as is. What part of 2nd tier is hard to understand? In what way is the 17th place team more deserving to get a 2nd shot at the world title over #s 2-16? The Johnstone's Paint Trophy winners deserve a berth in the UEFA CL, they need added exposure too. 2nd tier winners are still below the entire 1st tier. The cruiserweight champion doesn't deserve a shot at the heavyweight title just because he's a champion, or because his belt needs exposure. There are usually 20 heavyweights who can KO him. EL Champs got eliminated from the CWC in the UCL Group Stage or even before that. They don't belong anywhere near the world title. Anyway, thank heavens the crisis has been averted for now. It did seem like Wargames in this thread with the DefCon level rising every page. And sadly, Stockholm Syndrome set into some posters. But, for now, Joshua has realised no one wins with a mickey mouse version of the club world championship. It would be worse than nuclear war, tbh...
It may be fine to you and others and I do sympathize with your point of view. However I can see the other side of the argument too. FIFA loves money and they think that they can cash in on a tournament like this that is official. Television Networks will pay more money for official matches when compared to friendly matches. Also, I am sure there were people in 1978 who were saying "Hey, 16 teams is perfect for a World Cup. No need to change anything." And we all saw what happened after that.
To me those type of people are like the ones who say that they like typewriters over computers. Sure, there may be some hipsters and senior citizens who truly believe that is true but they are truly in the minority and look kind of stupid.
Yeah, pretty much. You'll never get 100% agreement on anything. I mean only about 95% of people agree that the world isn't flat. When the WC had 16 teams it was really just Europe & South America. Even though some people might have liked the competitiveness of it, they must also admit that it wasn't a World Cup.
Well, Homie, the next fight for the world heavyweight championship can be held in a shark tank with a live Great White roaming in there, and I'm sure PPV buys will soar. But the belt shouldn't be on the line for such a publicity stunt. I don't think Ali put his belt on the line when he took on Inoki or Monsoon (assuming he was champ at the time). Publicity stunts don't deserve official status. In all of this mess, has anyone considered a 3rd alternative to the Conf Cup or bloated CWC... How about giving players the summer off? What's wrong with just having nothing the summer before the WC, letting players get some much needed rest? Has that crossed anyone's mind? Keep the Conf Cup, market it as a fun warmup tourney to the WC to gain interest. The reason it gets low ratings is because most don't understand what it is. It's all about marketing. If it keeps losing money, then scrap it and leave the summer open. A tourney doesn't have to be held the year before the WC, the time can be used to rest. There's honestly nothing that can replace it. A friendly club tournament might do, but a bloated CWC will be an unmitigated disaster from top to bottom.
That is your opinion. I think it can be relatively successful financially and popularity wise. At least more than the Confederations.
That's pretty much the clubs' stance...just that FIFA 1) is too money-hungry to let football go fallow for even one summer for its own good, and 2) looks at clubs like, "Why can't we have them play our tournaments when you're going to run them into the ground in your money-spinning friendlies anyways?"
We can bet on that, then, if the unthinkable unfortunately happens. Hopefully it won't. Honestly, the NT-club hybrid mentioned upthread would be fun. Clubs won't have to release players, so it'll be up to them to let em rep NT or stay with club. Last 8 WC and CWC teams to participate, 4 4 team groups with top 2 advancing. So if it was held now, we'd have matchups like Pachuca vs Croatia, Brasil vs Gremio, R Madrid vs England. Why not, if a non-Conf Cup tourney has to be held, then do the NT vs club global challenge.
Well, that's a unique idea but fact is any of these friendly summer tournaments are simply unwatchable. I mean have you seen these ICC friendlies? I admit when you see the matchups on paper like Milan v Man Utd or Juve v Bayern it is somewhat tempting to tune-in. But I dare anyone to actually watch for over 10 consecutive minutes without changing the channel. It's impossible! Switching Juve v Bayern for Juve v Germany doesn't change the underlying fact that it means nothing. Nor will it make it more likely that teams will field their best players. All it would do is confuse the heck out of people that think the Chicago Fire can compete for the World Cup. In fact, those are the only type of people these ICC-type tournaments appeal to (people from non-footballing countries, with no passports).
Judging by the players and attendance at these "International Champions Cup" matches there doesn't seem to be much appetite among clubs and fans alike to have even more games during the summer months. I know its a WC year, so I checked back on some of the preseason friendlies in 2014 so that we are comparing apples to apples. Madrid fielded plenty of first-choice starters or at least borderline starters in their first ICC match that year held on 26 July. We are 5 days deeper into this summer than that and both Madrid and Barca fielded full B teams yesterday. The English teams are fielding slightly stronger teams, but not much. The Bayern - Man City ICC match featured no more than about 6 players (between the 2 teams combined) that would be expected to start in these teams first CL match next month. The clubs few this tournament as a total joke. Mourinho basically said as much the other day. Attendance figures indicate that the feeling is largely mutual. It seems that there are only about 3 or 4 clubs that fans are willing to watch in big numbers, even though it is relatively convenient to do so compared to flying all the way to Europe. They don't care to see B teams of Roma, Dortmund, Spurs or even Juve, Bayern and Man City judging by the numbers.
It is what it is I guess. In a way it's pretty cool that top teams from the major leagues in Europe participate in this thing but yeah when your fielding B or even C teams, it's gonna be a tough draw. That being said, in the end it's just preseason. People just care far less when the games don't count regardless who is out there.
From this article: The FIFA Council meeting is on October 26. If the majority of the proposed funds are really from Saudi Arabia then Infantino would be a fool to bring this up now, given current events.
Update: he's bringing it up. Have to imagine the stakeholders will want absolute transparency on the consortium investing in these new tournaments.