Following the hectic months of club football, where qualifiers for Euro 2024 and AFCON 2024 dominated the international window in November and December, national teams are poised to return to the field with a series of friendlies. FIFA is launching the FIFA Series, a new biennial series of friendly games starting in March. The global soccer governing body aims for this initiative to provide an opportunity for national teams that may not regularly face teams from other confederations to enhance their competitiveness.
The pilot project will run during the March international window and then roll out every two years, involving four national teams from different continents competing in a single host country. The four matches will be played in groups, with the top team from each group going on to play in the finals at the same venue, with the tournament winner crowned champion. FIFA says that the series will allow member associations to compete against national sides from other confederations, unlocking both technical development opportunities and commercial possibilities for them.
World soccer’s governing body ishopes that the new competition will help boost the rankings of the partaking teams and allow them to become more competitive at major tournaments. The top teams from Europe and South America dominate the World Cup, with just three countries outside of those continents reaching a semifinal. The new competition, launched under the leadership of new FIFA president Gianni Infantino, is designed to make the World Cup more competitive for teams outside of those power bases.
According to Kenny Jean-Marie, FIFA’s chief of member associations, the competition will provide a worthwhile exercise for the teams involved. “Some countries have never played teams from other confederations before, so it will be a good opportunity for them to do that and gain experience,” he said.
In the initial phase, which will last until March 26, the participating national teams will be drawn into two groups, each containing one team from a lower-ranked confederation and one from a higher-ranked confederation. In the case of the group hosted by Algeria and Saudi Arabia, the teams will be Vanuatu (ranked 170), Bermuda (171), Brunei Darussalam (194), and Guinea (76). The fixture list for this round of matches has yet to be confirmed.
In the future, FIFA intends to host the series in four additional countries, with the first in March 2026. FIFA will cover travel costs for the four host teams in each event while all the matches are set to be broadcast on TV and streamed live by FIFA+. FIFA will also offer the rights to the matches to media partners and is currently negotiating television broadcast deals for them. As the series is a pilot project, there will be no trophies or prize money for the winners of the four matches. However, FIFA is hoping that in the future, this could change to give the competition some added prestige and appeal.
