For the first time, the DFB has issued an official statement on FIFA’s plans to hold the World Cup every two years – and has expressed clear criticism.
Last Sunday, Peter Peters, part of the DFB’s interim leadership and a member of the DFL executive committee, announced to kicker that “German football will speak out clearly against this”. After the executive committee meeting on Friday, this has now officially happened.
“The DFB fully supports UEFA’s position, according to which a decision in such an important matter cannot be taken without the consent of the European associations and European football,” a statement from the association on Friday afternoon read. “Not least for this reason, the DFB finds it incomprehensible that the FIFA leadership, contrary to all principles of good governance, did not consult the members of its own council in the first step, but rather so-called ‘FIFA legends’ and disseminated the results of the meeting via the media,” the association further criticised. On the part of the European associations, there are “serious concerns”.
Benefits? “Neither discernible nor conceivable “
For the DFB, it is “neither recognisable nor conceivable” that FIFA’s plans will make for more interesting matches and increase equality of opportunity. Among other things, the DFB criticises that holding the World Cup every two years would “marginalise the women’s and junior tournaments in the shadow of the men’s competitions”, increase the physical strain on national players, reduce the importance of the major tournaments and that a change in the match calendar would conflict with the contracts concluded between the DFB and UEFA.
Read a commentary here: A new World Cup rhythm – who can seriously want that?
The criticism “and many other questions require detailed examination and discussion as soon as possible”, the statement continued. The DFB expects the world association to “pay special attention to and take into account the specific interests of the European national associations”.
FIFA most recently cited survey
The world governing body had recently campaigned for a change in the World Cup rhythm and commissioned a feasibility study. In the context of this study, FIFA recently cited the results of an online survey that it had also commissioned itself, according to which 55 per cent of respondents were in favour of a more frequent staging of the World Cup.
In addition to UEFA, the South American football association Conmebol had already spoken out against such a model, while the African association CAF, on the other hand, supported the idea.
