The reform of the football World Cup has showed the tip of its head. Surely conscious that we speak differently of football and having been elected for that, Gianni Infantino aims to extend the high mass of football to forty-eight teams, against thirty-two present in Brazil two years ago.
For this, without touching anything on the basics, he simply proposes adding a preliminary round to the Champions League, from which would emerge – after one game – sixteen selections. While the string is a bit big for tv rights and promises made during the campaign, at least it poses a real question: how to improve the World Cup?
A more attractive World Cup on the field
If we must learn something from the games in France it is that quantity sometimes affects quality. Except for a few games, boredom prevailed. Looking for places to buy football tickets remained a nightmare. The idea of the best third killed the group matches and the level was rarely in tune with the atmosphere in the stands. How do we solve the problem?
No need to lie, there is a risk to knowing the deflationary spiral in our L1 with its deserted grandstands. Of all the possible and potentially effective tips, could we not first introduce the offensive and defensive bonus (which offers to jump straight into quarters) paired with small parameters which block any team that has not won a single game? It’s cruel, but you’ll thank us later.
A more universal world Cup
The question is not fundamentally to increase the number of participants, but to finally balance the distribution of seats allocated to each confederation. Europe (thirteen tickets) and South America (five) will someday have to agree to give a backseat to Africa, Asia, and why not even to Oceania (let’s remember that Australia was in the qualifying stages of the AFC).
In fact, it is almost a matter of survival for FIFA, which at one point or another has to pay the symbolic price of an ever wider globalization, which it calls for through its wishes and TV rights. Everyone knows that a presence in this unique competition remains an incredible leader for the broadcast of soccer.
A more fun World Cup
Football has become one of the most serious things in the world, which necessarily implies that it is not much fun. Set like clockwork, all the really crazy, festive and dilapidated dimensions were squeezed out over time. No more land invasions; they’ve been replaced by selfies. But more than the number of teams or the duration of the event, it is the form of games that one would think about renewing.
Why not imagine that in each country the matches are played on the grounds of neighborhoods, in the courtyards of prisons, in the courtyards of schools, in the middle of refugee camps. Football will again become a game, which would not prevent TV broadcasts and Record crowds.
Some pleasures never last long enough. Why have to wait once every four years? Following the logic of Infantino, let us introduce a permanent annual championship of the world Cup, once every four years, the defending champions meet in a prestigious mini-tournament. In short, the World Playoffs!