Sepp Blatter's plans to stage the World Cup every two years are on hold after a two-hour meeting with the president of UEFA, Lennart Johansson.
In a significant climb down from the position he adopted last month, the FIFA president said yesterday he would not put his revolutionary proposal to a meeting of their executive committee at Zurich next month.
In his first serious setback since succeeding Dr Joao Havelange last summer, Blatter failed to convince his UEFA counterpart of the viability of his plan.
In accepting the rebuff, however, Blatter indicated he had not abandoned his proposal. "Many people believe, as I do, that this is the way forward," he said.
"A World Cup every two years would improve the image of international football at a time when some people are pushing for bigger and better club competitions. But before examining the plan, we need to put in place an international calendar everyone agrees on."
It was a welcome if, perhaps, brief victory for Johansson, whose image was badly bruised in the controversial election which established Blatter as Havelange's successor at the start of the World Cup finals in France.
Dismayed by the prospect of seeing the European Championship reduced to a qualifying competition for the World Cup under Blatter's plan, and troubled still further by the effect it would have on UEFA's hopes of putting a new Super League in place within the next two years, the Swede had led the opposition to Blatter's proposal.
"We believe it is unworkable and we have told FIFA so," he said. "It cannot be achieved without damaging the continental championships and that is too big a price to pay. We are ready to do everything to protect international football, but this is not the solution to the problem."
Like most European national federations, the FAI is backing Johansson's stance. They believe Blatter's plan would merely congest the international calendar and render non-competitive fixtures, the mechanism by which national team managers normally introduce newcomers, obsolete.
Blatter, who said initially the new format could be in place by 2002, now accepts that it will be at least another two years before it can be achieved. In the light of yesterday's developments, even that time frame may prove optimistic.
