A Biennial World Cup came a step nearer yesterday, and so did the threat of a European boycott of the competition.

A meeting will be held in Zurich on Friday at which FIFA hopes to persuade international confederations such as UEFA that the calendar can be rescheduled to avoid clashes between a revamped World Cup and competitions such as the European Championship, the Copa America and the African Nations Cup.

FIFA has already reassured the IOC that a more frequent World Cup would not clash with the quadrennial Olympics, suggesting that FIFA are willing to shift the World Cup cycle by a year.

This would also avoid a clash with UEFA'S quadrennial European Championship, which is staged in the same year as the Olympics. But even so UEFA will take some convincing of the wisdom of the World Cup change.

The World Cup changes will be discussed by both FIFA's Strategic Studies and Executive Committees in March as FIFA president Sepp Blatter continues to risk a rift with Europe.

"Although in Europe we know the focus is on the clubs, we must also protect the interests of national teams," he said.

Yesterday Rupert Murdoch also threw his weight behind the idea. "The World Cup is a great international event and there's no reason why it shouldn't be every second year," said the media tycoon.