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FIFA proposes new mini-World Cup competition

Thewobbler

Well-Known Member
Oct 29, 2016
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5,701
http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/11355702/fifa-propose-new-mini-world-cup-competition

FIFA president Gianni Infantino has proposed staging a new tournament, featuring eight international teams, every two years.

The tournament, known as the 'Final 8', would be the climax of a global Nations League competition, which is part of an ambitious plan to reform international football which FIFA believes could be worth $25billion in a 12-year cycle.

Infantino, according to Reuters, said an unidentified group of investors had proposed spending $25billion to secure the rights to the tournament, which would take place every October and/or November of every odd year starting from 2021.

The Confederations Cup, currently staged every four years in a year before the World Cup, would be abolished.
The letter did not clearly indicate how many slots would be allocated to each region.

The plans were sent by Infantino to the members of FIFA's decision-making Council which still has to approve them.

UEFA and its counterpart for North and Central America and the Caribbean, CONCACAF, have already set up Nations League contests in their own continents.
In both cases, the competitions involve all the national teams in their respective regions who are divided into divisions based on their rankings.

There is promotion and relegation between the divisions, as in conventional domestic club leagues. UEFA's inaugural competition will begin in September this year.

Other continents would have to set up similar competitions for the tournament to be viable.
 

NinjaTuna

Well-Known Member
Jul 9, 2017
1,878
7,155
UEFA Nations League was a great idea - allows for those pointless friendlies to now have a bit of competition. This new idea just seems like overkill
 

tototoner

Staying Alert
Mar 21, 2004
29,387
34,059
Indeed, but... $25bn for FIFA, so...
With that investment the sponsors will probably hand pick the teams themselves

If 8 teams I would suspect we're looking at

Brazil
Germany
Argentina
Spain
England
France
Italy
USA

With the likes of USA, Belgium, Holland, Mexico, Poland and Portugal not far behind
 

nailsy

SC Supporter
Jul 24, 2005
30,536
46,628
Why do it in October/November? This would be a minimum of three games if it went straight to a knockout, but probably more like five if they go with a league format. How can they squeeze that into the calendar?
 

'O Zio

Well-Known Member
Dec 27, 2014
7,405
13,785
The problem with this is it just dilutes how interesting these games are. At the end of the day, people tune in in their millions to watch e.g. England take on Brazil either because it's the World Cup or even if it's a friendly it's because it doesn't happen very often. If you have some bollocks like this so we're playing Brazil every two years then it just becomes less and less exciting.
 
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