KEIR RADNEDGE REPORTS: FIFA president Gianni Infantino has suffered another setback in his attempt to persuade world football of the virtue of staging the World Cup every two years instead of every four.

The head of the world football federation has been travelling around Latin America trying to explain one of the key planks of a redesign for the international match calendar.

However CONMEBOL, the South American confederation, has formally confirmed earlier hints that it prefers the status quo.

In a statement to that effect was issued by the 10 member countries after an inperson meeting in person in Luque, Paraguay.

It said: “[The members] confirm that they will not participate in a World Cup organized every two years. There are no reasons, benefits or justification for the change promoted by FIFA.”

According to the statement, the FIFA proposal “turns its back on almost 100 years of world football tradition, ignoring the history of one of the most important sporting events on the planet.”

CONMEBOL “supports the World Cup currently in force, with its terms and classification systems, because it has proven to be a successful model, based on sporting excellence and which rewards effort, talent and preparatory work.”

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