LAUSANNE: UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin on Monday said that holding the World Cup every two years, as Arsene Wenger has recently suggested, would 鈥渄ilute鈥� the tournament.
Former Arsenal boss Wenger, who is now director of development at FIFA, on Saturday called for football鈥檚 showpiece competition to become a biennial event.
The World Cup has been held every four years, besides cancelations during World War II, since the inaugural edition in 1930.
鈥淲e think that the jewel of the World Cup has value precisely because of its rarity,鈥� Ceferin said at a general assembly of the European Club Association.
鈥淏ut holding it every two years, will by our opinion, lead to more randomization, less legitimacy, and it will unfortunately dilute the World Cup itself.
鈥淭he international match calendar does not need that. Our players don鈥檛 need to see more of their summers spent on consuming tournaments rather than devoted to relaxing and recuperation.鈥�
UEFA has long been against a more frequent World Cup and earlier this year announced a revamped version of its Nations League tournament, with 100 more matches per season.
Former United States coach Jill Ellis said Sunday she 鈥渋s open to everything鈥� when asked about the Women鈥檚 World Cup potentially being held every two years.