Believe that we have to re-organise completely the football calendar, proclaims Arsene Wenger
Arsene Wenger is FIFA's chief of global football development
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FIFA's chief of global football development Arsene Wenger has revealed that he believes the entire footballing calendar needs to be re-organised from league seasons to World Cups. Wenger also added that the World Cup should be held every two years in order to make it more competitive.
Ever since he was appointed FIFA’s chief of global football development, Arsene Wenger has been in talks to radically change football across every possible way. That includes changes to the offside rule with the 71-year-old’s plans currently under consideration by FIFA and IFAB. However, the former Arsenal boss has no intension of stopping there with him looking to change the game completely.
In a recent interview, Wenger admitted that he believes the complete football calendar needs to be “re-organised” in order to make it easier on players and coaches. He revealed that the calendar should be changed from its current structure to a “March until November” season. He also added that discussions with Gianni Infantino and all the “stakeholders of the game” have been had in order to move the said proposal to something more permanent.
"It's my dream you know, it's not a dream I share with many people at the moment but I just think I have the advantage of having worked in Japan. We played from March until November and it was perfect. You would not have anymore 'he won the Championship in season 2018-19.' No, the championship was won in 2018 or 2019 and in 2020," Wenger told beIN SPORTS.
"In fact, I believe as well, we have to re-organise completely the calendar. In FIFA, with [president Gianni] Infantino, we try to make meeting with all the stakeholders of the game to completely reorganise the calendar year, because you have to plan in the future where you may have to travel less."
That isn’t his only plan, however, with Arsene Wenger also looking to cut the FIFA World Cup down from a quadrennial tournament to one that takes place every two years. The Frenchman revealed that it is so that the tournament becomes more competitive and allows players in their prime to compete in it. He further added that there should only be two tournaments, the Euros and the World Cup with everything else being “kicked” out.
"If you look at the teams in the World Cup, usually the average age is 27-28. That's why, because the World Cup, is every four years there are very few chances to win it again because when they go back to the next World Cup they are 32 or 33."
"That's why maybe we should organise the World Cup every two years and the European Championship every two years and kick all the rest out. Organise only competitions of meaning and kick all the parallel competitions out of the game. People must understand what is at stake and only have games with meaning," he added.
