Football of the Future
Wenger exposes the perspectives of the “football of the future”
Football of the Future Arsène Wenger gave a detailed presentation on his vision for the “football of tomorrow”
-
He spoke about the existing problems in the international match calendar and the opportunities offered by the reorganization
-
Wenger said in the digital press conference: “We want games with meaning”
Arsène Wenger presented his perspectives on the “football of the future” to the media in an in-depth presentation that highlighted not only the current issues on the international calendar, but also the opportunities that a shake-up from 2024 would bring to world football.
FIFA’s Director of World Football Development spoke at a virtual press conference involving the world’s media, following a two-day meeting of the FIFA Technical Advisory Group on the future of the game. men’s soccer, held in Doha (Qatar) and attended by a group of soccer stars.
“Our mission is to plan and shape the football of the future, and enhance the competition of global football,” Arsène Wenger said of his plan, which highlights the need to put players and fans first. “Many have complained that it has been a marathon of matches, meaning that we played too many matches. Our desire is for them to be relevant matches, to play at the highest level and not increase the quantity, but the quality of the matches.”
“Arsène Wenger Calls for Restructuring of Football Calendar to Prioritize Quality Matches and Reduce Travel for Players”
The former Arsenal manager said that if the “intermittent” nature of international matches interspersed throughout the club football season were reduced, players would be able to travel less, get less tired and be able to play more relevant games.
“We are not contemplating increasing the number of games. We are very aware of this,” he said. “For me, the main thing is that there are more constructive matches. We want to give the fans what they demand at the moment, which is nothing more than relevant matches. Our desire is to meet that expectation.”
But FIFA’s Director of World Football Development also noted the need for the calendar to address the widening gap between confederations, as the FIFA World Cup
“Many confederations don’t have access to top-level matches, so they don’t have options to reduce the gap between them and the big confederations,” he explained.
“Personally, it’s hard for me to get used to the idea that I work at the service of football, but I know that there are situations in which a child born in a certain place does not enjoy the same opportunities as another who was born in a country that does. It has structured football and is committed to developing talent. I want all talent to have their chance and, in this sense, I think the current match schedule is out of date”.
Wenger also shared his thoughts with the collective of soccer stars who make up FIFA’s Technical Advisory Group for the future of men’s football, who have provided detailed information about Wenger’s plans.
“There is 20% national team football and 80% club football. Our desire is to maintain that balance, but we want to reorganize it in a more efficient way,” Wenger added. “This means regrouping and reducing the preliminary phases of national team football, creating longer periods of time for players to stay with their clubs and establishing a guaranteed rest period each year for footballers.”
“Arsène Wenger Proposes Restructuring of Football Calendar to Safeguard Future of the Sport and Meet Evolving Fan Demands”
This proposal intends to regroup global and continental tournaments in a structured way. “A revised calendar would give us the opportunity to organize the FIFA World Cup
Furthermore, soccer’s current position as the most popular sport on the planet is not taken for granted, and Wenger is keen to safeguard the future status of the beautiful game with these changes.
“Times and behaviors are changing,” said FIFA’s World Football Development Director of a world where simplicity and immediacy are the prevailing characteristics. “We live in a society that moves very fast with electronic sports, and the new generations are used to getting quick, immediate answers to everything they want.”
“On the other hand, globalization and a new mentality also intervene. In my opinion, the way in which this proposal is conceived will give way to a new mentality. For example, the UEFA European Championship was postponed to 2021 due to the pandemic, and it was a fantastic competition. And next year we have the World Cup. I don’t think this is a problem at all. I would even say that it seems that the EURO is over a long time ago, and that we are all eagerly waiting for The next World Cup arrives. The fans will benefit, because I think they have earned the right to watch top-level competitions more often. And the footballers, for their part, will see their current travel burden reduced: they will play more competitive matches and They will have more chances to participate in the World Cup.”