According to football pundits, a World Cup every two years, though a wonderful thing for fans of the sport to behold, would not be a great idea for an Island nation like Jamaica, which struggles to come up with funding to compete in the global marquee event even with the ‘additional’ period of time, now considered normal. What do you think of a biennial World Cup?

Published May 25, 2021

Biennial Backlash

Pundits dismiss idea of two-year cycle for World Cup in Light of JFF's blessing

FOOTBALL ANALYST Michael Hall and former national assistant Bradley Stewart say that a biennial FIFA (Men’s) World Cup would not benefit the national programme and would be more demanding on the resources to execute.

Their comments follow FIFA’s approval of a proposal from the Saudi Arabian Football Federation (SAFF) for a feasibility study to be conducted on the impact that a Men’s and Women’s World Cup being held every two years would have. The proposal was adopted at the 71st FIFA Congress held virtually on Friday. In stating the case for the study, SAFF President Yasser Almisehal said that the time was right to review how the game is structured.

Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) President Michael Ricketts said that he would be in favour of shortening the time frame between tournaments from its traditional four-year cycle, for both men and women, saying that more football is needed, especially for Jamaica.

“We just need to manage our time,” he said. “I honestly think that it could work and we need to just, from a national standpoint, play more football.”

However, Hall says that a two-year cycle would not offer any advantages for the national men’s programme and would already heighten concerns regarding players being overloaded with too many games played per year.

“It would only benefit us the most if we were able to qualify for it every two years,” he said. “Does it benefit us? I’m not so sure I like the idea, to be honest with you.

“The calendar is so crowded as it is. We can barely find FIFA windows to play the various qualifying events for the tournaments that they have now. I don’t see the sense of it. A quadrennial World Cup sounds right to me.”

PREPARING TO END DROUGHT

Jamaica’s last World Cup appearance was in France in 1998, and the Reggae Boyz will be preparing another attempt to end the drought when their final round of qualifiers begin in September.

Stewart says that given the disappointing campaigns since 1998, it would require more resources for a two-year qualifying cycle for both programmes.

“Given what we would have seen over the long haul where we struggle financially to match up in a four-year cycle in terms of making sure that there is an adequate amount of preparation, to have a two-year cycle, it just means that demands will be greater in terms of finances both for the women and the men,” Stewart said. “I don’t see [how] having a two-year cycle will be advantageous.”

While Ricketts says that a two-year cycle can work if there is good management around the logistics, Hall said that such changes will have to involve how the tournaments will be treated going forward.

“Are they going to then not have some of the other competitions that they normally have? In our region, for example, are we not going to have the [Concacaf ] Gold Cup? There are already concerns about wear and tear and the workload that they have already. I don’t get it,” Hall said.

The approval comes amid the busy summer schedule caused by the COVID19 pandemic. Continental tournaments, including the European Championships and CONMEBOL’s Copa America, which had to be pushed back from last year because of the pandemic, will start next. This is also after players finish their club duties.

However, this is not the first complaint of too many games in the calendar year. In a Sports Illustrated report last April, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola criticised both UEFA and FIFA for the strenuous schedule that the players have to endure.

“UEFA, FIFA kill the players. It’s too much,” Guardiola said. “We didn’t have one midweek off since we started [the season]. Not even one. No player can sustain, not just physically, mentally to be ready every day to compete against opponents to win the game.” 

This is a production independent of The Gleaner Company (Media) Limited's newsroom. For feedback: contact the Digital Integration and Marketing Department at Newsletters@gleanerjm.com