Former Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger is hoping for a more competitive World Cup in Qatar in 2022 than the one that took place in Russia this year.
Not a single Non–European nation was able to make it past the quarter-final stage, as South American representatives, Brazil and Uruguay were both knocked by Belgium and France respectively.
Previous editions of the World Cup have been much more competitive with the 2014 edition in Brazil seeing four European and four South American nations in the last eight of the competition. Also, three European nations were present in the last eight in 2010, with four South American representatives and one African country.
Wenger is of the opinion that the World Cup is a better tournament when a more varied geographical selection of teams advance to the latter stages and hopes that this will be the case in Qatar for the 2022 World Cup.
“Let’s hope that the next World Cup will be a real one because that one of 2018 was great but it was a championship of Europe with a guest selection: Brazil,” he said in an interview with France Football.
“In general, we know that no South American nation, except Brazil, is strong enough to win. No Asian selection, no African selection, so Europe seems to have a big lead compared to other continents. I hope it will be more balanced in the future”.
The Qatar 2022 World Cup will be a unique one, running from 21 November to 18 December due to summer heat in Qatar and therefore, will be played in the middle of the season.