World Cup 2026 - 48 teams

Great idea if it means the end of all the pointless qualifiers that break the season up.

El Zoido said:
BBC:


...and there it is.
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After the disaster that will be Qatar 2022 I think they'll do well to match current figures.
 
Grib said:
So the groups effectively over after the first game if a team loses by that comment?

Anyway I didn't mean it as a direct comparison, just that the euros were negatively affected by the expansion and I hope it's not the same with the world cup
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Well no. You need to win your next game and hope you got a better goal difference than the team that you actually beat.
 
The three teams in a group is an interesting idea but I'm not a fan of increasing the number of teams as it dilutes the quality. If anything they should have a straight knockout tournament with 32 teams or a 24 team version of the three sides in a group.
 
Bojan11 said:
Well no. You need to win your next game and hope you got a better goal difference than the team that you actually beat.
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By the same account if there's two fairly weak teams in the group they could just play for the bore draws and hope to sneak through?

Or if say Spain, France and a poor team are together, are they happy not to risk to much vs each other knowing they should both beat the third team etc

I'm sure it'll become clearer when we get info on how groups are to be seeded etc, until then I'm not convinced it's a great move myself
 
Sigma said:
I like this idea

Gives more chance to nations who don't normally make it, which could do wonders for not only the nation in question, but also football in general.

Also, more football :)
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I understand this sentiment, but the World Cup is meant to be the pinnacle of footballing excellence. Changes like this have seen it drop so far behind the top leagues like the EPL and La Liga, not to mention the Champions League.

This just drags it out and makes it more of a 'goodwill' festival than an elite competition, which might be fine if you live in the host nation or can actually afford to go, but it makes it so boring, and at times cringey, to watch from afar.

I'm all for African and Asian countries being given more room to qualify, but not by increasing the overall competition. I mean the best European and South American teams are always going to win it anyway, and I don't watch it because i want to see England play, I watch it because I want to see Spain and Argentina go at each other.

It's bad enough we're going to have the hypocrisy of Russia 2018, the farce of a winter World Cup in Qatar, and having to overlook major sponsors like McDonalds and Coca-Cola (at a sporting competition?!), but after all that they're selling out the competition even more.

I'm done with it.
 
Bojan11 said:
Nope.

16 teams would qualify. We'd just be adding effectively a last 32 round.
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16 teams would qualify from 12 groups? So you'd have only the winners qualifying and the four best runner-ups?
 
Surprised that the vote was unanimously, I thought Germany was opposed to the idea of changing the format.
 
This was always going to happen! Its a decision made purely on financial basis, more teams more money for FIFA. another nail in international football coffin!
 
But people said it'd be a disaster if it expanded from 8 to 16 then 16 to 24 then 24 to 32 now 32 to 48.

Aside from the 'we're all doomed' brigade who rear their head whenever anything changes ever, are we going to really notice? I remember the last expansion in France 98. I didn't, and still don't recall, how it felt any different to USA 94 to me as a viewer. I guess there had to have been more matches but it didn't seem drastically or even noticeably different. This'll be the same. Then next time when they expand it again people will be decrying that saying 48 is the perfect number. And on and on it goes.
 
Boosts China and India's chances of qualifying which will be FIFA's wet dream. Two most populated nations, strong economies, market for football is growing with these Super Leagues. $$$.
 
Odds on that the 2026 WC will be held in China. They've got the money. They've got the money. And they've got the money.
 
Could be an interesting idea. My only gripe with it is that one team is going to get an unfair advantage, due to having more rest days than the others, since there will only be 3 matches per group.

But this should make group stage matches more interesting, as teams will have to go all out for the win in all matches rather than playing for a draw.
 
This is to make sure China is in it. Would not be surprised if they are behind this decision.
 
More reasons than ever to ignore national team competitions.
 
This will just give teams the opportunity to draw their way into a title. Absolutely disgusting
 
So, 16 groups have three matches (48) -> last 32 (16 matches) -> last 16 (8) -> quarters (4) -> semi (2) -> for bronze (1) -> final (1)

80 matches, 8 played for the semi-finalists
64 matches, 8 played for the semi-finalists - (last time, right?)

Got that correctly?
 
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Bojan11 said:
Why didn't they just make it 12 groups of 4? One extra game played, big deal.
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Knockouts can be 2-4-8-16-32, not 12

They are basically removing a team from the group stage (which bar the odd group of death were incredibly dull) and adding a knockout round.

Not too bad IMO. More games requiring a win should be better. There will be more dead rubber games in the group stage, which gives more countries the chance to show up, if only to get pummeled and drice the sort of basketball scoreline which appeal to certain markets.

My concern is qualification really. The CONMEBOL qualifiers are fecking great and they are talking about extending to all of the Americas. Not interested.
 
The group stage is going to be such a draw fest.

Let's say England, Brazil and the USA are in the same group.

Let's say Brazil beat England on Matchday 1. Wow, what a match!

It's USA vs Brazil in Matchday 2. USA know that if they beat Brazil, they still need to draw against England to guarantee going through. Or if they draw against Brazil, they still need to draw against England to guarantee going through. So there is very little benefit of trying to beat Brazil. Brazil on the other hand know a draw will guarantee them going through.

So guess what, it's a draw.
 
Thought FIFA coefficients might have a part in such scenarios, but apparently not. Drawing of lots would happen (first time ever) in that case.

Physiocrat said:
How on earth do they decide who goes through in that situation? FIFA ranking?
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I do fancy an idea of lower ranked teams by coefficients to go through. Maybe.
 
Physiocrat said:
How on earth do they decide who goes through in that situation? FIFA ranking?
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Yes, probably. Not only is that a real possibility, but each team beating another 1-0 (or any other result) could happen as well.
 
Might as well combine the teams at this point during the group stage. That'd make more sense.

England & Mexico vs Brazil & South Africa
England & Brazil vs Mexico & South Africa
England & South Africa vs Brazil and Mexico
 
Or another seriously likely scenario:

Match 1 - England vs Iran - England win 3-2
Match 2 - Brazil vs Iran - Brazil win 4-2

Match 3 - England vs Brazil. Should be an amazing game, but both teams are already through. So both teams don't try.
 
Physiocrat said:
How on earth do they decide who goes through in that situation? FIFA ranking?
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The associations that made FIFA council members the most expensive gifts prior to the WC.
 
Physiocrat said:
How on earth do they decide who goes through in that situation? FIFA ranking?
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Three way penalty shoot out

Team A gk at one end
Team B gk at other end
Team C take first kick against team A gk, if he scores next kick against team B gk at other end

If either teams gk saves or penalty is missed then they swap around

So Team B keeper save Team C shot.
Team B then kicks against Team A

First to five wins, captians do odds and evens to decide order

Simples :wenger:
 
Grib said:
Three way penalty shoot out

Team A gk at one end
Team B gk at other end
Team C take first kick against team A gk, if he scores next kick against team B gk at other end

If either teams gk saves or penalty is missed then they swap around

So Team B keeper save Team A shot.
Team B then kicks against Team C

First to five wins, captians do odds and evens to decide order

Simples :wenger:
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Love this, love you.

One problem, two of the three teams will have just been playing a full match. They'll probably have an advantage as the other team won't have played.
 
Grib said:
Three way penalty shoot out

Team A gk at one end
Team B gk at other end
Team C take first kick against team A gk, if he scores next kick against team B gk at other end

If either teams gk saves or penalty is missed then they swap around

So Team B keeper save Team C shot.
Team B then kicks against Team A

First to five wins, captians do odds and evens to decide order

Simples :wenger:
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Infact let's just sort the whole group like that, feck the matches, they'll be shite anyway
 
Bojan11 said:
Why didn't they just make it 12 groups of 4? One extra game played, big deal.
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How do you make a knockout from these? 12 first places, 12 second places and 8 third? This did not work well at Euro.
 
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