{"id":203106,"date":"2021-09-25T11:35:54","date_gmt":"2021-09-25T09:35:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fifa.africa-newsroom.com\/press\/trezeguet-calls-for-more-meaningful-matches-in-footballs-future-calendar?lang=en"},"modified":"2021-09-25T11:35:54","modified_gmt":"2021-09-25T09:35:54","slug":"trezeguet-calls-for-more-meaningful-matches-in-footballs-future-calendar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/trezeguet-calls-for-more-meaningful-matches-in-footballs-future-calendar\/","title":{"rendered":"Trezeguet Calls for More Meaningful Matches in Football&#8217;s Future Calendar"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"image_wrap\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.africa-newsroom.com\/files\/thumb\/b3444c3c45c3aa5\/600\/418\" alt=\"FIFA\" \/><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"video_wrap\"><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"854\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/YTGXU4p6Jrk?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<p>FIFA World Cup 1998 winner says players need matches in calendar to have a higher profile; former France star says fewer windows for national team football will increase the quality; players are among the stakeholders being consulted as part of a wide-ranging review.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>David Trezeguet has welcomed the extensive review process on football&rsquo;s international match calendar, saying that by &ldquo;eliminating&rdquo; matches of lower importance, the quality and global competitiveness of football will grow.<\/p>\n<p>With no match calendar in place after 2024, FIFA is facilitating discussions as part of a wide-ranging review with many and varied stakeholders and Trezeguet is eager for the results to contribute to a truly global football of the future.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;From the players&rsquo; perspective, a change is required in my opinion,&rdquo; said the former France international. &ldquo;We are all aware that there are many games at club level and international level so, we have to understand that players are tired between all the travelling and high-level competitions. We can try to increase the level of the game and eliminate games that are less useful for players.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Since 1930, we&rsquo;ve had the same idea of games &ndash; friendlies, qualifying games and the [FIFA] World Cup,&rdquo; recalls Trezeguet. &ldquo;But, in my opinion, we must also bear in mind the fact that supporters want bigger spectacles and more games at the highest level. In friendly matches &ndash; or matches that are of a lower level &ndash; we are perhaps less prepared for them both physically and mentally.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Trezeguet was a member of the France squad that kicked off a period of dominance for European teams in the FIFA World Cup, with four of the five tournaments since then also won by sides from the continent. With 133 of FIFA&rsquo;s 211 members still to make their debut on the biggest stage of all, this all-encompassing review process is seen as an opportunity to level the playing field and increase the competitiveness of the global game.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;In my opinion, the ambitions, desires and dreams of countries from other continents, who aren&rsquo;t as well-known on the big stage, have to be given a chance,&rdquo; Trezeguet added. &ldquo;When we talk about giving countries a chance, it&rsquo;s the dream of playing through a top-level qualifying campaign bearing in mind that the end goal is to play at the [FIFA] World Cup. I think that playing at the World Cup is every kid&rsquo;s dream. When you are a kid who later becomes a footballer, it&rsquo;s the idea of representing your country and the pride that comes with that.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p><i>Distributed by APO Group on behalf of FIFA.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><strong>Contact for African media:&nbsp;<\/strong><br \/>\nAfricanMedia@fifa.org&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"well well-sm\"><b>Media files<\/b><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-newsroom.com\/files\/large\/38116cbeb47815e\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.africa-newsroom.com\/files\/large\/38116cbeb47815e\" alt=\"FIFA\" style=\"max-width:500px\" \/><\/a><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-newsroom.com\/files\/download\/38116cbeb47815e\">Download logo<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"media_block\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/YTGXU4p6Jrk\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i3.ytimg.com\/vi\/YTGXU4p6Jrk\/hqdefault.jpg\" class=\"media_thumbnail\"><\/a><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-newsroom.com\/\">Source: Africa Newsroom &#8211; APO<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>FIFA World Cup 1998 winner says players need matches in calendar to have a higher profile; former France star says fewer windows for national team football will increase the quality; players are among the stakeholders being consulted as part of a wide-ranging review. David Trezeguet has welcomed the extensive review process on football&rsquo;s international match [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":203107,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4584],"tags":[4585],"class_list":{"0":"post-203106","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-africa-news-2","8":"tag-apo","9":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/trezeguet-calls-for-more-meaningful-matches-in-footballs-future-calendar.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=203106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203106\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/203107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=203106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=203106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=203106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}