DFL COO Rettig Proposes Eliminating WC Round Of 16 To Reduce Workload For Players

German Football League (DFL) COO Andreas Rettig "has made a concrete proposal to solve the problem of a winter World Cup in '22," according to KICKER. Rettig: "It can't be that the World Cup will be shortened from 32 to 28 days but players have to play the same number of games." This would increase the workload for the players, Rettig said, and in the end the clubs "would pay the price as injuries increase after the World Cup and players are out of shape." Because a reduction of participating teams is "very hard to accomplish," Rettig has proposed another idea. Rettig: "I think eliminating the round of 16 would be a good option. If instead of the top two only the group winner would advance, you could play the quarterfinals right after the group stage" (KICKER, 3/1).