FIFA International Match Calendar: Proposed Changes & General Discussion

Even for youth tournaments?

I guess they would do double-headers, so one group could be played entirely in one stadium (with a swap of one match with another group on the final matchday so that you keep simultaneous kickoffs). But I think that would still mean 12 stadiums to host a youth WC (assuming they are going with the same 12*4 group format).

 

Yes, I think it makes more sense for Youth Tournaments cause then you can get more people in the stands due to automatic bids. Currently most youth tournament stadiums seem empty unless the home team is playing.

 

I don't really have any objections to either of these proposals, but I also don't think it will do a ton to help smaller countries without strong professional setups. Most of those countries struggle to fund youth teams as it is. Even a country like Canada can barely afford to have youth teams. And I don't know how much increased exposure for player 15-17 is going to mean when most the players who end up on even the best U17 teams typically don't make it to the senior national teams.

Like I said I don't really have objections to the proposal, but I don't think it's going to have the benefits you are suggesting.

 

If you appreciate just how dire youth development in nations like Jamaica is right now, you'd have a different view. I'm going to speak mostly from a Jamaican perspective, since thats the one I know best, but what I say below can probably be applied to dozens of other countries in similar positions.

We have no fully pro club on the island. There is no proper football academy of the kind Americans, Canadians, Mexicans and even some of the central americans are used to seeing. A top Jamaican teen aged 14 to 19 spends the vast majority of those years playing youth football (mostly high school competitions) against players who are vastly inferior to him, for very limited portions of the year (august to November), in a relatively unstructured environment, with shoddy coaching, limited staff support and usually on goat patches masquerading as football pitches.

International youth football is a massive step up for these players. It is the only level at which the nations best youth are afforded remotely competent coaching, training among peer talents, games against peer talents, and real structured participation in the game on better quality surfaces. It still doesn't come close to the kind of support even a middling kid at a middling MLS academy gets, but the gap is at least MUCH smaller.

These proposals would have the effect of dramatically increasing the amount of time those teens spend in that international environment from ages 14 to 19. Today, the kids probably get one U17 qualifying cycle in that window, and an Under-20 cycle as well, usually with no tournaments. With even the more moderate annual U17 WC proposal that includes expansion to 48, that kid is quite likely to see up to 3 U17 cycles and 3 U17 tournaments, in addition to the U20 qualifying. The other proposal is even better, giving that kid a shot at up to 4 cycles and 4 tournaments U17/U18, in addition to U20 qualifying (the U20 is not expanding so the odds of a tournament there aren't great still).

This is a massive upgrade for us in terms of the quality of preparation our kids are getting aged 14 to 19. I shouldn't have to explain how improving the quality of preparation at the youth level can have benefits for older players. You will never have MOST of your Under-17s make it to the top of your system - not even nations with virtually infinite resource and top tier development systems (Germany, Belgium, etc) manage to do this. But the quality of what you'll have at the more senior levels will definitely improve when you take your youth development from what is basically rock bottom to something at least somewhat above that grade. That's what this does.

And of course there's the tangential benefit of exposure at higher levels of competition - positive showings against more well known international opponents with better pedigrees is good for seeding more pro opportunities for our kids 16-18 and getting them off the island and into pro setups faster. This proposal makes those scenarios a bit more likely.

As for affordability, this issue is becoming more surmountable than it ever has been. The countries aren't coming up with this money themselves. The cash is being sourced from (i) big increases in funding from WC expansion, (ii) general increases in solidarity grants from FIFA (this connected in part to item (i) and (iii) funding that would be linked to these tournament expansions (the proposal notes that many of the expenses associated with qualifying and also attending the tournaments will be covered by FIFA and confederations - its not coming from the national federations). Even financially strapped nations like Jamaica are likely to be able to afford all of this - even just the last two cycles in which we've seen the increase in FIFA solidarity money have been noticeably better from an affordability perspective (not as many issues funding and preparing the teams as I saw, say, 10 years ago).

Finally, the girls - everything I said above applies more so for them, as our domestic womens situation is even more limited and they gain even more from inclusion in the national program and tournament competitions. Despite limited resources, Jamaica has managed to qualify for two straight Womens WCs and become something of a sub-regional power on that side of the game. With improved girls prep, this can get even more solid.

To summarize: This is a very big deal for countries like mine. Not for the USA, Mexico, or Canada, really, but many others are getting a great opportunity here.

 

Has the 2020-2024 calendar been updated for the Asian Cup?

 

FIFA's idea is to use a so-called park concept for the annual U17WCs, whereby most pitches would have limited spectator capacity, with only one decent sized stadium required to host the final (and possibly games of the host country's U17 team).

This not only has the advantages of minimising organistaional costs and giving more countries the possibility to host, but it also creates infrastructure which will be very serviceable post-competition.

 

So, what are the odds Indonesia actually hosts the U20 World Cup in May?
Seems like we cannot even have the draw on time due to protests.

 

I mean, stuff like this should result in automatic ban from hosting any FIFA tournaments for, I dunno, say, 30 years.

Of course, FIFA will do nothing.

Btw, same thing times 100 would have happened in the senior 2022 WC if certain countries qualified. And with the senior and youth WCs all expanding and people living in their own silos thanks to social media, this will happen more and more. Hence my point about the need for a hefty ban from hosting future FIFA events.

 

https://www.fifa.com/about-fifa/org...onesia-as-host-of-fifa-u-20-world-cup-2023-tm

 

I stand corrected.

 

A/B Qatar... can anyone notice the difference?

 

3 years ago you could. Maybe not so much recently.

 

Not sure it matters as much as you seem to be implying. CONCACAF basically now has 3 regional championships per 4-year cycle, since their involvement in Copa America now seems permanent. There might be a handful of players that play for a CONCACAF national team whose club team are among the 4-5(?) CONCACAF teams that qualify for the Club WC, but so what? These guys will have already played 2 summers in-a-row (at least) in int'l tournaments for their country. Or maybe they elect/are forced to play in the Gold Cup instead of Club WC - so they will miss a glorified summer friendly pilot tournament.

I will also highlight that US and Mexico are playing each other tonight! When there is no FIFA window at all.

 

https://future.fandom.com/wiki/2026_FIFA_World_Cup_qualification_(Octavio2510)#UEFA

Looking at this fandom page got me wondering what UEFA will do for the 2026 WCQ playoffs. 12 runners-up into 4 spots is awkward.

I wonder if UEFA is laying the groundwork to have World Cup playoff teams selected solely on the basis of Nations League like they do now for the Euros.

 

Simple enough to add 4 teams from the Nations League to the group runners up. 16 teams then grouped into fours and a two stage playoff could be completed in one window.

 

The expanded CWC is the most useless tournament ever created.

We already have a champions league for respective continents.

Most African players are not going to want to play in that over an AFCON.

It is completely redundant for club teams to finish champions league, finish long seasons, and then play in an expanded club world cup. THAT is the madness. CWC should just stay as it is, a semi serious almost "friendly" tournament that just involves few teams and doesn't cause much of disruption to world/club football.

Its just simply overkill, and a tournament that lacks interest to be frank.

 

Also it isn't just the CAF afcon and Concacaf gold cup that will be going on in the summer of 2025.

Won't there also be World Cup qualifying ?

So really this CWC is just a disruption to ALL national teams.

it should be scrapped. FIFA is already going to be making more money with the 48 team world cup.

 

Yeah, that may be what they go with in the end. Can't say I'm a huge fan of these one-legged playoffs though. Should at least pick neutral venues for those playoff games. I imagine a game like Poland v Austria in Berlin would still attract a good number of traveling fans. Just pick a few neutral venues at the end of the main qualifying phase and make sure that no team is playing in its own country.

 

Agree that CWC is a bad idea, but fwiw I don't think it will conflict with WC qualifying in any way. There will be the usual two rounds/one week FIFA window shortly after the UCL final in early -June and then the Club WC could start any time after that.

If they must have this CWC, I'd argue that it should start in mid-July. Then it won't conflict with the continental championships and can replace summer friendlies for the big UEFA clubs.

 

i noticed, that the European Qualifiers will have their 9th and 10th Matchday in November 2025.

But with the WC being held in June 2026, when they want to do the playoffs?

In March 2026, like in 2022?
Then, they had the Final Draw in April 2022, but the WC was in Nov/Dec so that typical 6 month between the WC and the Draw was kept.

But how shall it be now?

I hope they won't do a draw again with all the playoffs as place holders. It is a stupid thing, as you want to discuss the groups like "of light" and "of death" and that can't happen with all groups having a joker still in it.