The Frenchman wants to see the tournament return to Africa (Picture: Getty)

Arsene Wenger believes the Qatar World Cup has shown that the tournament can be hosted successfully in the winter while plans to stage it every two years appear to have been shelved.

The decision to switch the competition from its usual summer schedule to the winter prompted a backlash when it was announced in 2015, though FIFA felt it was unsafe to play matches in Qatar in the summer due to the heat.

Although the decision created a fixture headache for domestic European leagues, the tournament has been no worse off with FIFA president Gianni Infantino even declaring the group stage ‘the best ever’.

Now former Arsenal boss Wenger, who is FIFA’s Chief of Global Football Development, has suggested there may be more winter World Cups in the future, particularly if the tournament is to return to Africa.

‘If we want to democratise football, we will have to go to African countries where it is impossible to play a World Cup in the summer,’ the Frenchman told L’Equipe.

‘We can see it with this edition in Qatar, a World Cup in the winter works.

‘Of course, many players did not have the usual time to prepare physically but at least they all approached this competition with real mental freshness, which has not always been the case in the past.

Morocco have unsuccessfully bid to host the World Cup five times (Getty)

‘I remember teams starting a World Cup psychologically tired because their preparation period had gone badly.’

Last year, Wenger backed plans to stage the World Cup every two years as part of a total revamp of the international calendar, though he has now backtracked on that suggestion and says a biennial tournament is no longer on FIFA’s agenda.

‘I had been asked to think about it and I thought it was not a bad idea,’ he continued.

‘But such a change would have required a complete review of the qualifying calendar.

‘We are not heading towards that today, but rather towards four-year cycles alternating with a World Cup, the Women’s World Cup – which is becoming more and more important – and the Euros.’

Morocco, who have lit up Qatar with their unexpected run to the quarter-final, have submitted a bid to host the World Cup in 2030 which could potentially be co-hosted with Tunisia and Algeria.

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