All this debate about whether the A-League needs a finals series made me start thinking about the more important question of whether international football needs finals.
Currently the “best” international team in the world is determined by a cup competition once every four years.
Hence the countries are crowned champions are determined by the team that just so happens to be in form in a month period and is not uncommon for penalty shootouts to influence the outcome instead of the regular game of football in 90 minutes.
So I suggest the following.
We need to scrap the FIFA World Cup and replace it with a ‘World League’ where consistency over a long period of time determines who is the best footballing country in the world.
Whoever finishes first past the post wins the World League and is crowned the best country in the world.
Some people may wonder how can a league like this exist in such a congested international calendar that may interfere with European club football.
The answer to that lies in the CONMEBOL WCQ system. Normally they decide qualification by a home and away match-up between 10 teams in the confederation.
So there are 209 countries in the world. It is then possible to set up 21 divisions of ten teams (the 21st division will have nine teams in the league) which is initially decided by FIFA rankings and have a home and away match-up in every four years.
They will be promotion and relegation based, with the top two teams getting promoted and the bottom two teams relegated.
There will be a play off between the third bottom team and the third best team in the lower division.
The best team in the top division after four years will be crown World Champions.
Of course some people may miss the drama of the cup competition, so there will be two separate ‘cups’.
The Continental Cup which is the same as the Euro, Asia Cup, African Cup Of Nations, Copa America, Gold Cup and so on.
However, qualification is just determined by the top 16 teams from each continent, which is determined by league placing.
The second cup competition will be the FIFA Cup, which is a knockout competition that is involving every 209 countries and is played throughout the four years.
The top 32 sides will have a bye until the round of 64 but other that that, it will be a knock out competition drawn randomly.
So this is what the Spanish National Team played in a competitive matches between 2009 to 2012 (I’m excluding Confederation Cup from the equation as that will be scrapped in my system). They played:
10 World Cup Qualifiers
7 World Cup Matches
8 European Qualifiers
6 European Championship Matches
A Total of 31 competitive matches over four years.
Under my system there will be a maximum amount of matches for a top 32 country:
18 World League Matches (20 if there is a play off for promotion/relegation)
7 Euro Matches
6 FIFA Cup Matches
A maximum total of 31matches, which is not more than what Spain played or 33 matches if the country is involved in a promotion/relegation playoff.
While it may seem like a few extra games, the relegation and promotion matches could replace friendlies.
Therefore this shows that this world league can fit in a calendar without increasing games being played.
This is a fairer ‘first past the post’ system of determining who is the best team in the world.
Only then will International Football will be taken as seriously as major European leagues.
This system will correct any future injustices that robbed the ’74 Dutch team, ’54 Hungarian side and the ’82 Brazilian side’s status as the best in the world, just because they failed in the lottery of a cup competition.
Adrian
Guest
never going to happen, so move on
Johnno
Guest
Ian, You still have not admitted russia and sweden or any other teams, were higher ranked than New Zealand, but didn't get a spot, as it's conference based allocation of spots, not the best 32 according to FIFA rankings. And they didn't set the world on fire, 3 draws big deal, they were still knocked out in the group stage, they beat no one, a draw is a draw not a win. And you just get 1 point, not 3 points, for a draw.
Ian Whitchurch
Guest
Johnno, Look, I know you make up facts. This is another one. They went through undefeated. Including against pre-tournament favorites Italy. That, unlike so much of what you say happened, actually happened.
Johnno
Guest
Ian Whitchurch no, they may of been undefeated 3 draws, but they were not higher ranked by FIFA in the FIFA world ranking, than say Russia or Sweden. Russia lost to Slovenia or slovakia in an upset 2-leg play off to qualify, but on paper had a much better team and higher ranking than those 2 and New Zealand. So the World cup is not the best 32 teams as judged by FIFA, the world cup is conference spread, hence it's not a real World Championship.
Ian Whitchurch
Guest
Considering they went through the group stage undefeated, I'd say this post has been up to your usual standards, Johnno.
Johnno
Guest
The world cup is not a true world championship. As it doesn't have the best 32 teams in the world at any given time. -Ask yourself was New Zealand in 2010, a better soccer team, than Belguim, Russia, Turkey,Sweden, Columbia, 5 countries that didn't make the World Cup.
dasilva
Guest
They are not marketed as league competition but the World Cup is marketed as a competition to determine the best International Football team in the world. They are considered the World Champions by winning the world cup and they are considered the European champions by winning the European championship Therefore there is precedent for determining who is the best team in the world using cup competition The question is then is it anything wrong by merging cup format with league competition to determine who is the best club side in Australia.
nickoldschool
Roar Guru
Volley Ball is one of the few sports which already has a world league and as a very casual fan of the sport, I found it impossible to follow the comp. Am not saying its a bad idea da silva, it's just that I have been brainwashed for a few decades now and just love the tournament format to crown football world champion. There are many casual football fans who start watching the WC for the QF and semis. Would they be as involved with this world league format? Not sure.
dinoweb
Roar Guru
I've often thought about how I would organise a world cup First up, sort the countries into 16 groups, currenlty that's roughly 13 teams per group. Countries would be seeded, with a top 16 teir, then the second 16 teir, then the third teir etc. One team from each teir would be randomly assigned to a group. The bottom 4/5 teirs would paly each other home and away with the top team to progress to the next stage. The next 4 teirs, plus the previous group winner play home and away, with the top 2 going the final 4 teirs, giving 6 teams to again play home and away, with the top 2 going to the world cup. That would be 6/8 games in round one, 8 games in round two, and 10 games in round three. Unless a lowly ranked team happened to get through from the first to the third round, that's a similar number of games to what many countries play already. Throw away the idea of regions and quotas. This really would put the best 32 teams in the World Cup. Travel these days is not quite the issue it was when the World Cup system was first devised. Every country would have similar travel considerations, so no advantages for any country, except by random draw.
Paul
Guest
We could go the other way and use regional tournaments, such as the Euro, Copa America, Asian Cup and African Cup of Nations, as the qualifying rounds for the World Cup. This is how it works in women's and youth football. Why wouldn't it be appropriate to make this the rule for men's football too? That way, there would be less club v country rows and less overworking of players.
Towser
Guest
Simplest way to have a World League for International teams just set up Europe like CONMEBOL,,top of the league plays top of the League in a home & away format. Winner =Champion of the World. No need for convoluted competitions ,keep it simple. Lets face it if were bringing World football down to brass tacks, no country outside Europe or South America is within earshot of winning a World Cup. Leave it as is,its a celebration of World Football, a way of engaging all football nations from top to bottom,not necessarily finding the best football team in the world.,that lies arguably in the winner of the ECL nowadays.
Ben of Phnom Penh
Roar Guru
The FIFA World Cup as much a celebration as a tournament. If you are going to squash it then at least wait until Qatar 2022 as I rather suspect Brazil and Russia are going to rock.
Cameron
Roar Guru
So have I. I am pretty sure viewing wise it is.
dasilva
Roar Guru
Considering this is just one legged knock out match I don't think it's too much. Considering that in Asia a lot of those low ranking countries play a two series of 2 legged knockout matches to qualify to the group stage. It's not impossible Anyway FIFA has a lot of money
Jukes
Guest
Thanks Fuss, took the exact words out of my mouth.
Mantis
Roar Guru
Too much money for the lower level teams to spend having to play each other, especially when they are playing teams from another continent.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
The World Cup has never been marketed as a "league competition". It's always been a Tournament competition. Tournament competitions are based on knock-out football. I like da Silva's concept as a possible addition to - not replacement of - the FIFA WC tournament. However, given the paucity of international dates in the football calendar - plus Confederation tournaments & Olympic tournaments - such a "world league" would be logistically impossible to organise.
Mantis
Roar Guru
I've always been told the World Cup is bigger then the Olympics
nordster
Guest
Bring it, bring it :) Groups in one venue or city condensed over a week or two like the WC finals...four groups in four cities, different locations around the world...then bring them all back together for the quarters and such in japan or dubai etc. Nations and statism are on the way out anyways haha
dasilva
Roar Guru
All of them are cup competiton