UEFA President Warns of World Cup Boycott If FIFA Stages Tournament Every 2 Years

UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin said Thursday holding the World Cup every two years would "kill football" and warned of a potential large-scale boycott if FIFA moves forward with the idea.

Ceferin told Martyn Ziegler of The Times (via Reuters) both UEFA and CONMEBOL, the sport's South American governing body, are staunchly opposed to the plan.

"We can decide not to play in it," he said. "As far as I know, the South Americans are on the same page. So good luck with a World Cup like that. I think it will never happen as it is so much against the basic principles of football."

FIFA is conducting a "feasibility study" led by former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger to determine whether it would be possible to hold the World Cup every two years, per ESPN's Mark Ogden.

The goal would be to create a major tournament every summer, with the World Cup alternating with the major continental championships, like the Euros and Copa America.

Part of the plan calls for fewer international breaks, which cause consistent pauses within domestic club campaigns, with one break in March for qualifying and another in October for the tournament, per Ogden.

Ceferin told Ziegler he wasn't contacted before the plans for a study became public—"I just read in the media"—and he hopes FIFA will eventually "come to their senses."

"To play every summer a one-month tournament, for the players it's a killer. If it's every two years it clashes with the women's World Cup, with the Olympic football tournament," Ceferin said. “The value is precisely because it is every four years, you wait for it, it's like the Olympic Games, it's a huge event. I don't see our federations supporting that."

The 53-year-old Slovenian, who took over as UEFA president in 2016, added the federation has to protect the players despite the financial upside.

"It might be good for UEFA financially, but the problem is we would be killing football like that. We are killing the players. I don't see the clubs allowing the players to go and that would divide us completely," Ceferin told Ziegler.

Wenger, who serves as FIFA's chief of global football development, said he'd like to conclude the study by December, but any formal changes likely wouldn't go into effect until the 2030 World Cup cycle, per Ogden.

However, without support from the regional governing bodies, it's hard to see the plans moving forward.