FIFA International Match Calendar: Proposed Changes & General Discussion

I'm not really advocating for copa or any regional tournament to be scrapped.

I think if Conembol and uefa don't want to get on board with a biennial world cup, that the "Rest of the world" tournament should be organized, with any guest teams who want to join.

This tournament should replace the biennial afcon and gold cup.

 

The way I envision the whole thing is as follows:

-- CAF, AFC and CONCAFAF would each get 8 teams each (for a total of 24), chosen from their respective quarter-finalists from their most recent continental championship, with the other 8 positions going to the OFC champions plus 5 invitees from UEFA who didn't qualify for the EURO (e.g., Ireland, Bosnia, Serbia, Greece and Norway) and 2 invitees from CONMEBOL who may appreciate the experience and the chance to be in the spotlight (e.g., Venezuela, Bolivia).
-- the 32 teams would be divided in 8 groups and 4 pots using the FIFA rankings, just as we have now with the World Cup (a good format being ruined for me by the 48 team/12 groups/3 teams per group format for 2026).
-- the winner would play the Copa America champions in the semis in something that can be called "the World Championship semifinal". the winner of that semifinal would then play the Euro champions.

 

Has he ever watched a match where neither team represents either UEFA or CONMEBOL?

 

To be frank though, who would watch games like Saudí Arabia v Honduras, Venezuela v Senegal, etc. either on TV or at a neutral venue stadium?

The whole point of a biennial WC is the money it would generate, and the reason it's lucrative is largely down to the label it has - "The World Cup". Just pulling random teams from as many different confederations as possible to form a no-name tournament isn't going to bring in any real money.

 

I can almost see it. Cinderella Cup: every Cinderella is a winner, already.

 

It would certainly bring in more money and more viewership than any of the tournaments of those 3 individual confederations.

So like I said there would be much to gain for CAF,concacaf, And AFC to do this.

Plus I think you are greatly underestimating the interest and viewership for this.

You would be getting audiences from US, Canada, Mexico, all of Africa, the entire Middle East, Japan , Korea, and the big one China (if they could find a way to ensure China's participation)

Plus diaspora populations in Europe at the very least.

That isn't small beans no matter how much you try to convince yourself it is.

 

Can you provide actual numbers regarding Mexican audience interested on watching a Senegal v Venezuela match?

It seems to me that you are overestimating how money is distributed on these competitions.
The last time Conmebol tried to sell a poor man's WC, Concacaf ended up keeping all the commercial rights profit from Copa Centenario.

 

The fans of the 32 teams will follow the tournament closely and they make up a good chunk of the world's population and GDP.

Now, obviously, this tournament will not come even close to the World Cup in viewership and revenues, but while my own interest and focus isn't to find a way to add more money to FIFA's coffers, the revenues generated will still be substantial and more than the zero you get from not having any such tournament nor a biannual World Cup (the latter, something I don't like either and which seems vehemently opposed by UEFA and perhaps less vehemently by CONMEBOL).

 

You talk as though we can't get such matches in the World Cup itself! Interest in any tournament match (outside a handful involving true elite teams) will always depend on the stakes in the tournament and how the outcome affects the prospects for the side you maybe cheering for and/or who ends up winning the tournament. Otherwise, without those factors in play and just in the abstract, how many people in Mexico (or any other country outside those involved) would care about some random match between almost any of the teams that already face one another at the World Cup?

 

I'm talking about the tournament as a whole.

Fifa claims they want to expand the sport across the globe, well this would be a perfect way to do it.

 

So, you cannot provide proof of Mexican interest on such matches?

 

Can you provide proof of Mexican interest in Switzerland vs Serbia at the last world cup ?

Wtf is your point ?

 

Easy there fella. Just want to understand how you can promise a world-wide audience, especially in big TV football markets like Mexico, for such underrated matches.

Whenever I hear FIFA and its supposed drive to expand football across the planet, I get a bit suspicious.

Remember its plans to expand into China? Even @Iranian Monitor got caught red-handed trying to push a *football study* with made-up numbers regarding Chinese interest for the sport.

All was well and good when the Chinese league kicked off with astronomical budgets. Today, we see the reality of the sport over there: bankrupt clubs, and professional players with unresolved salary debts.

So please forgive us if we see FIFA publicity stunts for what they are.

 

hey, they could call it the Seinfeld Cup.

 

Lots of them. Haven't you?

 

I

I honestly have no clue what you are talking about. Which "football study" was that and how, who, when, and where did I get :"caught red-handed"? In the meantime, while China represents a huge potential market, and could realistically qualify for such a tournament in the format I mentioned (they were a quarter finalist in the last Asian Cup), there are still plenty of other markets around the globe to generate sufficient viewership and revenues for such a tournament. All the more so, since the winner in my proposal would then get to play the Copa champions and possibly the Euro champs as well.

 

Your comment is really shocking in how unaware you must be. Are you suggesting all those who watch AFCON, or the Asian Cup, or matches like Iran v Morocco or S.Korea v Mexico etc in WC18 or in prior World Cups (e.g., Iran v USA from WC98, SKorea v Nigeria or Japan v Cameroon in WC10 etc), or any of the World Cup qualifiers outside UEFA/Conmebol including those involving your own team, Canada, simply don't exist or don't count?

 

Actually, I may have misread and misunderstood the post by @Paul Berry in saying no one would watch such games, whereas he seems to be referring to Wenger (who actually has been in attendance for some of the AFC qualifiers). My bad and my apologies, as my last comment would have been better addressed to other posters.

 

Thank you, yes I was referring to Wenger.

 

A 2007 FIFA *football study*, debunked years later:

https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/strength-of-confederation-r.2084293/page-8#post-36973761

Hopefully, we can bring facts to the table, instead of attacking fellow forum members for challenging fantastic claims.

 

You’re not being “attacked” by anyone, your posts have a trollish vibe to them and seem to intentionally be written in such a way as to get a rise out of “fellow forum members”.

 

I saw it as a disingenuous claim from @vancity eagle : promising a world-wide audience for a tournament without prior qualification.
Just putting together Conmebol's and UEFA's bottom tiers against the rest of world, and presto!
Even worse, with Conmebol's champion somehow entering the mix in semifinals.

I think it is fair to ask the basis of their claim regarding TV audiences for the low-rated matches you would see there.

Someone already named it Seinfeld Cup. How about Festivus Cup: a Cup for the rest of us?

 

I was referring to @Paul Berry , who just got chewed up by people too bothered to back up their claims.

Reading my posts above, I do see the Cinderella post as a poor attempt at satire: BOL and VEN are known as Cinderella teams in their regions, and now we have plans to invite them to a big dance, precisely because they are the bottom tier of their region? Seriously man, what kind of sad joke is that?

 

Football is probably a lot more popular in China than it was in 2007 because of the Premier League. Before the pandemic the EPL TV deal was worth $215 million a year.

The fact that several companies did a terrible job of running clubs is reflected in the financial struggles of those same companies. China has had its NASL moment.