Confederations Cup should be scrapped says German FA chief
Reinhardt Grindel said the pre-World Cup tournament is "anachronistic" and should be taken off the international calendar to ease fixture congestion.
The president of the German Football Federation (DFB), Reinhardt Grindel, has said that he is in favour of doing away with the Confederations Cup to ease the international calendar and allow elite players to have a decent rest in the summer before the World Cup.
"Positive gesture towards Europe's elite clubs"
“I think the Confederations Cup has become anachronistic,” Grindel said in an interview with German daily Hamburger Abendblatt. “It would be a positive gesture towards Europe’s elite clubs, who with good reason complain about the excessive number of fixtures their players face, if we were to say that we are willing to scrap a tournament.”
World Champions Germany are one of the eight nations scheduled to play the 2017 tournament across four cities in Russia in the traditional precursor to the World Cup in 2018. However, Grindel also opined that Fifa is undermining the tournament by refusing to pick up the costs for the teams taking part in the tournament, which will be held between June 17 and July 2.
"Not good publicity"
“In December, in a meeting with the secretary general of Fifa, we will reiterate that the governing body should assume all the costs of the delegation,” Grindel added. “It is not good publicity [for the tournament] and I feel sorry for Russia, which has nothing to do with the problem.”
Löw to take experimental squad
Meanwhile, Germany coach Joachim Löw has intimated that he will take an experimental squad to the Confederations Cup because asking players to play three international tournaments in consecutive summers could lead to fatigue and he would prefer to reserve some of his key stars for the World Cup.
However, when Germany hosted the 2005 tournament ahead of the World Cup on home soil the following year, they did field their strongest side.
