How long between world cups

Wenger, however, held a contrary opinion. A World Cup every two years would certainly spell the end of international friendlies, which are considered meaningless anyway. In the case of a biennial tournament, most of the international dates would be taken up by qualifying matches. But a bigger impact would be on the continental championship, and this is the reason why UEFA — which conducts the Euros — is likely to oppose this move.

UEFA conducts the Euros, considered to be one of the toughest and most lucrative global football tournaments after the World Cup, every two years after the World Cup. If FIFA makes its showpiece event biennial, there could potentially be a clash between the two biggest international football tournaments.

The Copa America, although held irregularly, is conducted during the same window as the World Cup. So a World Cup every two years will also force the South American nations to take a look at their calendar as well. A World Cup every two years would mean more matches — in the qualifying stages as well as the main tournament. These will be in addition to matches in most other tournaments — the World Cup has already been expanded to 48 teams starting , the regional tournaments have included more teams, FIFA has announced a bloated Club World Cup starting this year while UEFA has rejigged the Champions League format, resulting in players playing more matches.

This means clubs will have to release their players frequently, leading to a delay in the resumption of domestic leagues and adding to the risk of injuries. Once the tournament moves into the knockout rounds, two minute periods of extra time will be played.

At the end of the 30 minutes, if the match remains tied, the teams will go to penalty kicks best of five. Like the other matches in the tournament, the World Cup final consists of two minute halves, followed by possible stoppage time. If the game is tied after this, two minute overtime periods are played. If the game remains tied after OT, the game will be decided by penalty kicks.

World Cup matches consist of two minute halves with a running clock. Following each half, the referee may add stoppage time , to make up for time lost due to injuries, penalties, and anything else that disrupts the play. If they game is tied following the 90 minutes and stoppage time, extra time may be played as described above. World Cup soccer fields are not all the same, but must fit a specific set of guidelines set out by the governing body.

The touch lines must be the same length and between and meters. The goal lines must also be the same length and between 64 and 75 meters. The group of death in the World Cup is a group which is particularly competitive, because the number of strong teams in the group is greater than the number of qualifying places available for the next phase of the tournament.

A total of 32 teams expanded from 24 in will earn a spot in the tournament with the host country guaranteed a spot. A draw is used to divide the teams into eight groups of four. Here is a list of 28 fun and interesting World Cup facts to get you into the soccer spirit for the World Cup in Qatar:.

The term World Cup is used only for the purpose of properly describing certain events and without the specific permission of FIFA. Roadtrips travel packages and services are not affiliated with FIFA. How often is the World Cup? How did the World Cup start?

Why is the World Cup every four years? How many World Cups have there been? There have been a total of 21 World Cups: the first was in and the most recent in Who won the World Cup in ? How is the World Cup different to soccer at the Summer Games? What country has won the most World Cups? What are the World Cup qualifying groups? When are the World Cup qualifiers? When does World Cup qualifying start? How many teams go through in World Cup Qualifiers? How does World cup qualifying work?

Argentina in Italy: Italy def. Czechoslovakia ET in France: Italy def. Hungary in Brazil: Uruguay def. Brazil in Switzerland: West Germany def.

Hungary in Sweden: Brazil def. Sweden in Chile: Brazil def. Czechoslovakia in England: England def. Italy in West Germany: West Germany def. West Germany in Mexico: Argentina def. West Germany in Italy: West Germany def. Argentina in USA: Brazil def. Italy PKs in France: France def. Brazil in Japan: Brazil def.

Germany in Germany: Italy def. Argentina ET in Russia: France def. Croatia Where is the World Cup in ? Why is the World Cup in the winter? How are World Cup host countries chosen? How and why did Qatar get to host the World Cup? What is it like in Qatar? What will the Qatar World Cup stadiums and cities be like? What will the dress code be like in Qatar for the World Cup?

Will the Qatar World Cup venues be air conditioned? Do I need a visa for Qatar? What is the format of the World Cup tournament? How many matches are played in the World Cup? How many teams play in the World Cup? What do you get for winning the World Cup? European football is the powerhouse of the world game, with the leading domestic leagues, richest clubs and Champions League all giving UEFA huge influence.

And it will be 20 years next year since a non-European nation last won the World Cup Brazil in But the increasing financial reliance of major European teams on sponsors and owners from Asia -- namely Qatar , the United Arab Emirates , China -- and the U. Wenger believes that increasing the regularity of World Cups will ultimately boost all aspects of the game.

He has proposed two international breaks, in March and October, and groups of four nations playing just six qualifying games which Wenger believes will ensure "more high-stakes and high emotion games. Wenger claims that the "beauty and prestige of a tournament" depends on its quality rather than regularity and suggests that playing every two years will give the world high-class international fixtures and memorable tournaments. He believes that, by having just two international breaks each year, leading clubs will see the advantages of having their players for longer and with less disruptive fixture calendars.

And he is also proposing a compulsory day rest period for players after international tournaments. If you factor in a day break after a four-week summer tournament, then that amounts to close to two months when players are away from their clubs. When you consider that the leading clubs all embark -- pre-COVID 19 pandemic -- on lucrative preseason friendly tours, there is an obvious area of confrontation between club and country before the competitive action even starts.

Reducing international breaks to two per year sounds great in practice, but can a World Cup qualification campaign really be boiled down to just six games? UEFA has 55 member nations and even in a team World Cup, is only due to have 16 participants, so it would mean 14 qualifying groups if you kept the likes of Andorra and San Marino involved.

Africa has 54 member nations and only nine slots in a team World Cup, so the maths in their qualifiers would be even more complicated. South America, meanwhile, will have six qualifiers from 10 member nations, so their qualifying campaign could be over after just a couple of fixtures. Craig Burley looks ahead to after England's win vs. Andorra in World Cup qualifying. The World Cup remains the pinnacle of the game and it would still be difficult to find a player who would place winning the Champions League above lifting the World Cup, but it is outside the major tournaments that international football is struggling to remain relevant and interesting.

There are just too many games that are one-sided non-events, but even though England beat Andorra - who are ranked th in the world -- at Wembley on Sunday with a virtual second string selected by manager Gareth Southgate, over 67, fans turned up to watch.

When you factor in the gate receipts and TV money, even the biggest associations will still want to play games that have little or no competitive edge, purely because of the financial benefits. England haven't lost a World Cup qualifier since and Spain's defeat to Sweden last week was their first in the format since , so there is a clear issue in terms of competitiveness during the qualifiers.

Continental heavyweights continue to miss out on World Cups -- Netherlands , Italy and the United States all failed to qualify for Russia -- but that can be down to imbalanced groups or just a bad campaign. Too often, though, the qualifiers can be predicted before a ball has even been kicked.

So perhaps introducing pre-qualifiers for the lower ranked teams and creating more competitive groups is the way forward. But how many associations will realistically vote for fewer fixtures and groups that make it harder to qualify? Few fans, players, sponsors or broadcasters would turn down the spectacle and excitement of a World Cup every two years.