Senegal’s national football squad captain, Kalidou Koulibaly, has thrown his weight behind the idea of having the World Cup every two years rather than the current four-year cycle – a suggestion first mooted by former coaching great, Arsene Wenger, as a possible reform for the international football calendar.
The Napoli defender was quoted by L’Agence de Presse Sénégalaise – APS, on the sidelines of Senegal’s World Cup qualifiers in Dakar, where the “Lions of the Teranga” beat Namibia, 4-1.
“It’s a positive thing about the number of teams from Africa,’’ Koulibaly said.
The debate over the frequency of the World Cup began following a proposal by Saudi Arabia at the Fifa congress which necessitated the launch of consultations aimed at updating the international football calendar.
While there has been a lot of support for the idea, there have been more and more people weighing in on the opposite end of the spectrum.
Until now the conversation has largely included influential former players, many of them now professional football commentators. However, active players are beginning to join the conversation – and many of them are coming out in favour of the idea.
Koulibaly said he hoped players would be consulted more and said he is convinced that Africa deserves more than five teams in the World Cup.
“We were already playing way too many games and with this new idea it must be less games for us players,” he said.
The debate has enjoyed support from African Federations, Asian and Concacaf regions but has seen less enthusiasm from Uefa. However, the President of the French Football Federation (FFF), Noël Le Graët said recently that he was “not against” the idea.
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