European and South American teams could face each other on a more regular basis as part of a new agreement, while a South American referee could officiate at Euro 2020.
European football's governing body UEFA and its South American counterpart CONMEBOL met in Switzerland on Wednesday to sign a renewed memorandum of understanding.
The agreement promises collaboration between the confederations in a number of areas, and the accompanying statement said that "the possibility to stage European/South American intercontinental matches, for a variety of age groups and for both women's and men's", was discussed, with a joint committee set up to further examine options in the coming months.
The most high-profile meeting between clubs from the continents used to be the Intercontinental Cup, played between the champions of Europe and the holders of South America's Copa Libertadores up to 2004.
There is no certainty yet that these talks would lead to a return of something akin to that competition, which merged with FIFA's Club World Championship in 2005.
From 1980, the Intercontinental Cup was staged as a one-off match in Japan, with Porto the last winners in 2004, defeating Once Caldas of Colombia on penalties.
There would be numerous obstacles to getting it off the ground, not least how to find room for the match in an already congested fixture schedule.
The news of the memorandum between the confederations comes against the background of world governing body FIFA expanding its Club World Cup to a 24-team summer tournament from 2021. The inaugural expanded event is due to be held in China.
There have also been reports of moves towards a breakaway European - or even global - 'Super League' featuring the world's top clubs. In December last year, UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin described a reported push for a breakaway competition as "an insane plan".
Another area where the confederations plan to work together is on a referee 'exchange programme' which could see a team of officials from South America in charge of a game or games at the group stage of Euro 2020 and a European team of officials appointed to fulfil a similar role at the Copa America. There may also be further exchanges at club level in the future.
