PHILIPPINE Football Federation (PFF) President Mariano “Nonong” Araneta withheld revealing whether or not he favors a biennial World Cup over the existing once in every four years format of the world’s second biggest sports event after the Summer Olympics.
“We’re still waiting for Fifa’s presentation before making any comment about it.,” Araneta told BusinessMirror on Wednesday. “I haven’t seen anything yet so I cannot comment for the meantime.”
His position as one of seven Asian members of the powerful 37-member Fifa Council also makes his comment a critical concern for the Fifa, which argued that a biennial World Cups will give more players and teams the chance to compete in meaningful games, improve talent globally and raise more money to fuel development programs.
Araneta, the country’s chef de mission to the successful Tokyo Olympics campaign, will attend Fifa’s online council meeting with the 211 member countries on September 31.
He said it’s important to wait and see first before making a decision. But implementing a biennial World Cup, he stressed, is a long process.
“The September 31 meeting is only a briefing. So maybe by November, we will have another meeting,” he said. “And the decision will still go through a congress.”
Araneta said that an approved biennial World Cup could only be implemented in 2030.
“It still needs to be passed by the congress for further deliberation,” he said. “It’s a very long process.”
Next year’s World Cup in Qatar is employing the traditional 32-team format. But the 2026 World Cup that the US, Mexico and Canada are co-hosting will have 48 teams, with Asian getting a maximum of five to eight nations.