Antonio Valencia joins the FIFA technical group in Qatar that heads the proposal that the World Cup be played every two years

Convened by the FIFA Technical Advisory Group (TAG), former Ecuadorian soccer player Antonio Valencia met this Friday in Doha, Qatar, with other world football stars, such as the Bulgarian Hristo Stoichkov, the Italian Andrea Pirlo, the Colombian Faryd Mondragón and the Brazilian Dani Alves, who is still in force.

Valencia was invited by FIFA on the occasion of the debate on the future of the international soccer match calendar with the aim of studying whether the proposal that the World Cup be played every two years is viable.

The former Manchester United captain is part of this select group of stars and players who are still active “who have accumulated a total of more than 300 games in the FIFA World Cup and together exceed 3,000 caps”, as he said on March 7. September FIFA on its website.

Although he did not appear in the first call last September, also in Qatar, it is expected that the Amazonian will be a regular in the meetings where Ronaldo Nazario, Roberto Carlos, Peter Schmeichel, Didier Drogba, Lothar Matthäus will also offer their point of view , Michael Owen, John Terry, Yaya Touré, Marco van Basten or Javier Zanetti.

“Thank you for allowing me to join these #Legends #Futbol #Mundial @danialves @ hristo8oficial @ andreapirlo21 #FarydMondragon and for the invitation to the president of #FIFA #GianniInfantino”, says a post on the Instagram account of Valencia.

The former right wing and ex-flyer is accompanied in this “new experience” by the Ecuadorian soccer player intermediary Pedro Romero, who -in addition- is part of Toño’s inner circle, who retired from the activity in May of this year.

The ex-world champion Carlos Tenorio would also have been invited, according to images that he himself Demolition Man spread this Friday through WhatsApp states.

Commanding Wenger

Arsène Wenger, a former Arsenal manager, who serves as Director of Development at FIFA, wants to launch a national team competition every year, alternating World Cup and continental competitions, regrouping the qualifications only in the month of October, or in October and March. A full report is due to be released by FIFA in November, before a “global summit” between now and the end of the year.

The idea, according to a report on the official FIFA website, is that supported by the opinions of the members of the Technical Advisory Group, Wenger will present FIFA’s plans for the future.

Wenger said last Tuesday that the objective of the consultation process on the international calendar is to “optimize” it “for everyone”, since “the current format no longer works and is obsolete.”

At the head of the consultation process initiated by FIFA with the parties to “improve the football of the future”, the former English Arsenal player held meetings with the national coaches on Tuesday and Thursday to discuss the new model of the international calendar, after having done so. done with national associations.

For his part, Gianni Infantino, FIFA chief, announced that he agreed to convene a summit on December 20 to address the new international calendar from 2023 (starting in 2024 for women), with the option of holding a biennial World Cup, and which analyzed how the open consultation process by FIFA is developing, in which Wenger leads the debate on the men’s calendar and Jill Ellis on the women’s.

The idea of ​​a World Cup organized every two years starting in 2028 is firmly rejected by UEFA and fan groups. (D)