FIFA President Gianni Infantino: "Biennial World Cup would give African migrants 'hope that they don't have to cross the Mediterranean"

FIFA President Gianni Infantino has expressed his opinions regarding the biennial World Cup. He says it would offer more opportunities to players around the globe and could prevent migrants from crossing the Mediterranean Sea to migrate to Europe.

According to the UN International Organization for Migration, over 1,100 migrants died while attempting to cross the Mediterranean in 2021.

While speaking to the Council of Europe, Infantino argued that the World Cup should be held every two years. Instead of every four years, which has been going on since its inception in 1950.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino on the Biennial World Cup

"We need to find ways to include the entire world," Infantino said. "To give hope to Africans so that they don't need to cross the Mediterranean to find maybe a better life, but more probably dead in the sea."- Infantino.

Infantino said that most of the top players and the majority of the facilities for football are based in Europe. According to him, the biennial World Cup would give players of other nationalities more opportunities globally and more countries the opportunity to host. The generation of $4.4 billion in revenue that the change in format would generate could help close the wealth gap in the football world, claimed Infantino.

What are the reactions of the players to this idea?

The idea of holding the World Cup every two years is getting support from former players and managers like Arsene Wenger. Certain soccer confederations like CONMEBOL in South America; and individual national federations like France's and Saudi Arabia's have co-signed the idea.

But, the Majority of the players are not showing positive reactions to this new idea. PSG forward Kylian Mbappe and Bayern Munich forward Robert Lewandowski believe that it is going to be too tiring for the players to play tournaments frequently. So this will eventually have a negative impact on their physicality.

"I agree with Robert, we already play 60 games a year and there are already a lot of competitions. We are happy to play, but when it's too much, it is too much. If you want to have quality, you have to allow the players to rest," Mbappe said in December. "We have to think about the quality and respect the health of the players."

Is it the correct decision?

However, another group of people is saying that this new pattern will result in it more negligence towards women's football. The main congestion of fixtures will result in nobody watching the women's football.

FIFA is already facing international scrutiny for its reputation in the world of corruption and the choice to stand by the 2022 World Cup host Qatar; Amid the abuse and death of migrant workers, documented in country-specific data and by Human Rights Watch.