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Andrea Radrizzani hits out at FIFA’s biennial World Cup plans
The football calendar is already saturated with an incredible amount of games.
Both international and club football is being played more than ever.
Yet the latest proposals, directly from Arsene Wenger, could see the World Cup change from being played every four years to every two years.
Many figures in football are against these changes, including Leeds United’s Chairman Andrea Radrizzani.
The Italian has hit out against these potential reforms.
“I would like four (years) but perhaps there could be a discussion around every three,” he added. “Why shouldn’t Fifa engage? In my opinion there is a disconnect.” ().
It is hard to argue with Radrizzani either.
For someone playing in England there are two domestic cup competitions on top of a 38-game league season, not to mention a club in Europe could face up to 20 more games on top of that if they get embroiled in qualifiers.
That amount of football is simply ludicrous.
Forcing countries to play in intense, draining World Cup competitions twice as regularly just isn’t viable.
Not to mention that would come on top of FIFA’s plans for an enlarged Club World Cup ().
Whilst we all love football, it is possible for there to be too much of a good thing.
Barcelona star Pedri, at just 18-years-old, played a simply ludicrous 73 games for club and country last season before returning back to pre-season training without taking a break ().
This cannot be allowed to become the footballing norm and seeing figures like Radrizzani stepping up and rationally asking questions is exactly what is needed.
This need not turn into a battle between football clubs and FIFA and the Leeds’ Chairman’s suggestion of engaging with the clubs is surely what has to happen going forward.