The Confederation of African Football (CAF) is supporting plans to stage the FIFA World Cup every two years.
CAF hosts the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) on a biennial basis, but its President Patrice Motsepe said his organisation supports the proposal put forward by Saudi Arabia at last month’s FIFA congress.
Saudi Arabia’s proposal to Fifa’s members was overwhelmingly approved, as 166 member nations backed it with just 22 opposing it.
Motsepe, who spoke on the sidelines of the CAF Executive Committee meeting in Morocco on Friday, said the organisation’s highest body deemed it necessary to express its support for the resolution.
“Taking into account the serious financial challenges, lack of infrastructure and facilities, African football could probably be the biggest beneficiary of a World Cup every two years,” the South African said in a BBC report.
FIFA is currently evaluating Saudi’s proposal. It is estimated that staging the competition biennially would double the income that the world football regulator makes from its most lucrative competition.
CAF hopes an increase in FIFA’s revenue would trickle down to African countries and help the member associations develop the sport. The organisation would, however, be faced with the multiple challenges of accommodating the World Cup and AFCON competitions including their qualifiers into a calendar year.
Motsepe said CAF we will take the right decisions at the right time.
“Having the World Cup every two years will be of huge benefit to the world but definitely more so to the developing world in particular,” he said in Morocco ahead of Saturday’s African Champions League final.
“If there is a need for a readjustment and a reassessment (of our competitions), we will do that. Right now, it’s a little too early to postulate what will happen with the competitions we have.”
