A compromise to FIFA’s biennial World Cup proposal

FIFA, which is led by real-life Dr. Evil cosplayer, President Gianni Infantino, along with former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, are looking to hold the World Cup every two years instead of every four. It’s seen as a radical change in the global soccer landscape, one which has seen massive opposition from UEFA and CONMEBOL, the governing bodies for Europe and South America respectively. But is there a solution to this stalemate? Of course.

FIFA is planning some sort of nations league, not unlike what UEFA and CONCACAF have implemented in recent years, as a backup to the likely rejection of their biennial World Cup. Plans for a Global Nations League first emerged in 2017, shortly after FIFA discontinued the Confederations Cup (long live the Confederations Cup). UEFA did initially reject this sort of plan a few years ago, but they may feel that if they want to avoid FIFA's plan A, they may look to the Plan B as something they could stomach. FIFA had reportedly planned to offer each team qualifying for the ''Final 8'' competition $15 million and another $5 million for being runner-up or $10 million for winning the GNL.

A Global Nations League would more or less be an extension of UEFA’s version anyways. It would revolve around an eight-team tournament, rather than four, and would take place every other year (i.e 2025, 2027, 2029 and so on). The eight teams would come from Europe (3), South America (2), North/Central America (1), Africa (1) and Asia (1).

The format would basically be similar to the current World Cup structure, but played out over a year.

The tournament would also see teams exclusively play other teams from their continent in the group stage, not unlike World Cup qualifiers. The top team in each of the 8 groups would go through to the final 8. The lowest ranked team in each group would be relegated to Division 2 of their Confederation. Yahoo Sports did an excellent piece on how the format could look a few years ago, including this graphic which shows how potential groups would have looked at the time.

The quarterfinals, semifinals and finals would be a straight knockout-style tournament at a central location over one week. The other divisions (there would proably be seven in total) would then stage their own finals on similar schedules to determine promotion and relegation between divisions, not unlike the current UEFA Nations League format. All 223 members of the six confederations – even those that aren’t FIFA members – would be involved.

FIFA would also follow UEFA’s lead and ensure that the tournament is hosted in one of the participating countries. For example, if you get a final 8 of Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Portugal, Germany, Belgium, New Zealand, Japan, and Egypt, FIFA would ideally arrange to have it hosted in one of those places if possible. FIFA could also just forego that idea altogether and arrange it to be wherever they please and if a team like Japan makes the final 8 while the tournament just happens to be in Japan, then so be it.

The obvious pro to a Global Nations League would be that it would give every single national team more competitive games. Competitive games are undeniably more interesting than random exhibitions. And they wouldn’t just be competitive because of their official designation as such. Most would be between teams of similar calibers and skill levels. They would often produce entertainment and, in the top division or two, quality soccer.

There’s a concern that significance can’t just be conjured from nothing. A match, and a tournament, and a trophy can’t be made to feel important just because FIFA says it is important. But there will be financial incentives for every confederation and their member associations to care. And you can be sure that they’ll pass that along to coaches and players as well. If Spanish, Mexican, German, Brazilian, and English players care about games, their fans will, too. At least, that’s the hope.