World Cup 2026 - 48 teams

What a nonsense concept. It will just dilute the quality of football on offer. There won't be any meaningful games until the quarter finals at least.
 
It's basically a FA Cup type competition now. You have no control whatsoever on who you meet in the Last 16, Quarter Final, etc. Best two teams could meet in Last 16 round

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Doesn't seem that bad to be fair.
 
Money, money, money..if international football wasn't shit enough. They have to stretch it out further. Good fifa are a right shower of cnuts
 
AlwaysRed66 said:
I can just see teams doing a N Ireland or Plymouth for the whole match, sitting back for the penalties. Even worse you could have two of them doing the same. Great entertainment, not.

La Liga is not happy & talking about legal action of some sort. If the four big leagues revolt & go their own way, the whole pack of cards would come crumbling down. Come on La Liga, Premiership, Bundasliga, & Serie A show some b*lls.
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The way you describe it, i agree that i will not be good for entertainment. Nevertheless, i suspect that a win in the shootout won't give the team the whole three points. Maybe the shootout will award an extra point to the team that wins it.

Let's wait until it's official. Then we'll have something concrete to comment on. As for the big European FAs, there's nothing more they can do than moan now that the whole thing has been approved by voting.
 
Mrs Smoker said:


Huge jumps for Asia and Africa. 60% of South America will be there.
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LOL. That seems a lot of work to get Qatar in, cause nobody else from the money countries would have qualified for the last World Cup, even with the new allocations. No India, China, Bahrain or Trinidad/Tobago.
 
AlwaysRed66 said:
I can just see teams doing a N Ireland or Plymouth for the whole match, sitting back for the penalties. Even worse you could have two of them doing the same. Great entertainment, not.

La Liga is not happy & talking about legal action of some sort. If the four big leagues revolt & go their own way, the whole pack of cards would come crumbling down. Come on La Liga, Premiership, Bundasliga, & Serie A show some b*lls.
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Why would La Liga care?
 
AlwaysRed66 said:
I can just see teams doing a N Ireland or Plymouth for the whole match, sitting back for the penalties. Even worse you could have two of them doing the same. Great entertainment, not.
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That's why we make it 64 teams, not 48.

AlwaysRed66 said:
La Liga is not happy & talking about legal action of some sort. If the four big leagues revolt & go their own way, the whole pack of cards would come crumbling down. Come on La Liga, Premiership, Bundasliga, & Serie A show some b*lls.
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Don't see how they would have a leg to stand on. They would be okay with letting Spanish players go but not players from other countries?
 
I confidently predict this new format will be a complete disaster. 3 team groups - seriously?! I can see why it would be popualar with the Federations but for the fans this is not a good day for football.
 
The number of teams seems okay but groups of 3? No. No need to change that.
 
ChrisNelson said:
I confidently predict this new format will be a complete disaster. 3 team groups - seriously?! I can see why it would be popualar with the Federations but for the fans this is not a good day for football.
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I don't actually mind that part.
It's basically a full on knockout competition with an additional qualifying round prior to that.
 
If this was implemented for 2018 with the top FIFA ranked nations from each continent getting through, the tournament would contain the following (assuming the figures from that tweet were correct):

UEFA

Russia (host)
Germany
Belgium
France
Portugal
Spain
Switzerland
Wales
England
Croatia
Poland
Italy
Iceland
Netherlands
Republic of Ireland
Turkey
Slovakia

CAF

Senegal
Cote d'Ivoire
Tunisia
Egypt
Algeria
Congo DR
Burkina Faso
Nigeria
Ghana

AFC

Iran
Korea Republic
Japan
Australia
Saudi Arabia
Uzbekistan
United Arab Emirates
China PR
Qatar*

CONCACAF

Costa Rica
Mexico
USA
Panama
Haiti
Honduras
Curacao*

CONMEBOL

Argentina
Brazil
Chile
Colombia
Uruguay
Peru

OFC

New Zealand

Pots would then be as follows (assuming the system remains similar):

Pot 1 (Seeds)

Russia (host)
Argentina
Brazil
Germany
Chile
Belgium
Colombia
France
Portugal
Uruguay
Spain
Switzerland
Wales
England
Croatia
Poland

Pot 2 (UEFA, CAF & CONMEBOL)

Italy
Iceland
Netherlands
Republic of Ireland
Turkey
Slovakia

Senegal
Cote d'Ivoire
Tunisia
Egypt
Algeria
Congo DR
Burkina Faso
Nigeria
Ghana

Peru

Pot 3 (OFC, AFC, CONCACAF)

New Zealand

Iran
Korea Republic
Japan
Australia
Saudi Arabia
Uzbekistan
United Arab Emirates
China PR

Costa Rica
Mexico
USA
Panama
Haiti
Honduras

Qatar/Curacao

Potential groups (assuming rules regarding nations from the same Confederation remain similar):

Group A
Russia
Senegal
New Zealand

Group B
Argentina
Italy
Iran

Group C
Brazil
Iceland
Costa Rica

Group D
Germany
Cote d'Ivoire
Korea Republic

Group E
Chile
Netherlands
Mexico

Group F
Belgium
Tunisia
Japan

Group G
Colombia
Republic of Ireland
USA

Group H
France
Egypt
Australia

Group I
Portugal
Algeria
Panama

Group J
Uruguay
Turkey
Saudi Arabia

Group K
Spain
Congo DR
Haiti

Group L
Switzerland
Burkina Faso
Uzbekistan

Group M
Wales
Nigeria
Honduras

Group N
England
Ghana
United Arab Emirates

Group O
Croatia
Peru
Qatar/Curacao

Group P
Poland
Slovakia
China PR
 
Alex99 said:
Group A
Russia
Senegal
New Zealand

Group B
Argentina
Italy
Iran

Group C
Brazil
Iceland
Costa Rica

Group D
Germany
Cote d'Ivoire
Korea Republic

Group E
Chile
Netherlands
Mexico

Group F
Belgium
Tunisia
Japan

Group G
Colombia
Republic of Ireland
USA

Group H
France
Egypt
Australia

Group I
Portugal
Algeria
Panama

Group J
Uruguay
Turkey
Saudi Arabia

Group K
Spain
Congo DR
Haiti

Group L
Switzerland
Burkina Faso
Uzbekistan

Group M
Wales
Nigeria
Honduras

Group N
England
Ghana
United Arab Emirates

Group O
Croatia
Peru
Qatar/Curacao

Group P
Poland
Slovakia
China PR
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Could see myself enjoying that.
 
My own ridiculous modification of their ridiculous idea

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16 groups of 3, as is now. Difference is, each team also plays one match against a team in the group next to them: A group and B group are grouped together, so each A team plays one game against a B team group.

The winner of each of the 16 groups goes through, along with the next best team in the 8 "group of groups" = 24 teams from 48.

This guarantees each team 3 matches instead of 2, but fewer teams go through to the knockouts (24 instead of 32).

The winner of the 8 "group of groups" get a bye to the Last 16. = 8 teams.

Ratio of group matches to knockout matches is same as it is now (2016) = 31%

Total possible matches to play is 8, but average amount of matches per team is same as it is now (2016) = 4. Finalists have a greater than average chance of only playing 7 matches.

Downside is playing 6 matches a day in the group stage is difficult for host nation. As of 2016 they host 3 matches a day, and from 2026, 4 matches a day. Could be done with 4 matches a day, at a cost of an extra 6 days
 
Alex99 said:
If this was implemented for 2018 with the top FIFA ranked nations from each continent getting through, the tournament would contain the following (assuming the figures from that tweet were correct):
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That's not that bad, but the teams playing arent the trouble
 
Mrs Smoker said:
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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Seems alright to me but this path makes of maximum of seven games.
 
Yahoo! Ireland will qualify for every single world cup after 2026! Guaranteed international piss up en masse every 4 years. Lovely!
 
2002 World Cup, as it would have been with 48 teams (trying to keep things as close to what actually happened as possible)

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For some reason, UEFA saw fit to make Denmark fans travel from South Korea to Japan, only for them to get knocked out 3-0 by England. I'm sure next time they do it, there will be no flying between countries until the semi final.

France shockingly lose to Senegal but beat Bahrain to draw Denmark in the Last 32, who subsequently trash them 2-0 in the Last 32.

Uruguay lose to Denmark but beat Liberia (who), to qualify for the Last 32. They draw 3-3 with Senegal and lose on penalties.

Spain beat South African and Jamaica, then beat Slovenia on the Last 32.

Paraguay beat Slovenia and the Ivory Coast to draw South Africa in the Last 32. They draw 2-2 and beat on penalties.

England Draw with Nigeria 0-0 and beat New Zealand to qualify for the Last 32. There they draw Argentina, and knock them out with a David Beckham penalty.

Etc
 
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Green_Red said:
Yahoo! Ireland will qualify for every single world cup after 2026! Guaranteed international piss up en masse every 4 years. Lovely!
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Genuinely thought you were saying 'Yahoo! Ireland' were going to put forward a team.
 
Green_Red said:
Yahoo! Ireland will qualify for every single world cup after 2026! Guaranteed international piss up en masse every 4 years. Lovely!
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It's not a special when you qualify every year. It's going to be woeful.
 
From 16 (1978) to 24 to 32 to 48. What next, 64? I imagine the FIFA dream is to allow enough entrants so that China, India and Indonesia can all qualify, with the huge number of new viewers more than offsetting the fact that people in more established, less populous football nations will lose interest.
 
MoskvaRed said:
From 16 (1978) to 24 to 32 to 48. What next, 64? I imagine the FIFA dream is to allow enough entrants so that China, India and Indonesia can all qualify, with the huge number of new viewers more than offsetting the fact that people in more established, less populous football nations will lose interest.
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This was exactly my first thought. They want to tap into the massive emerging Asian markets and like you say all three of those in a World Cup (probably impossible in a 32) would probably increase TV viewers massively.
 
Should have just done 8 groups of 6, but you only play 3 games in each group:
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So here, England would play vs Costa Rica, Uruguay and Nigeria. Italy would play vs Uruguay, Costa Rica and Nigeria. Uruguay would play vs England, Italy and China, etc.
 
rcoobc said:
Genuinely thought you were saying 'Yahoo! Ireland' were going to put forward a team.
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Same. Look at the thread we're in. Yahoo buying Ireland, as a macabre corporations taking over jokes makes sense to me.
 
rcoobc said:
That's not that bad, but the teams playing arent the trouble
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What's the problem then?

We saw in the expanded Euros that 3rd placed teams going through put a bit of a dampener on things, so I'm quite excited at the prospect of a new, shorter group stage. The only thing I have reservations about is absolute ties between teams, because two games isn't much, and drawing lots would be a terrible way to decide who goes through.
 
hobbers said:
Dumb, corrupt shitbags being as dumb and as corrupt as ever.

Oh look, 3 teams in a group. Game 1: team A and team B draw. Game 2: C beats A. Game 3: B and C deliberately play out a draw because it guarentees they both progress, while A get to watch the collusion live on the telly with whatever tiny little audience is left.

Why bring this on ourselves, so we can get to see more countries that are shit at football but more than willing to line our pockets.
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Things like this are suggested all of the time, and it rarely, if ever happens. Teams often find themselves in situations with 'nothing' to play for, but they don't just play out draws for the sake of it. If it did happen, there would uproar and regardless of any previous history, FIFA would have to do something about it. In all likelihood, scorelines and results are going to differ anyway.
 
Alex99 said:
What's the problem then?

We saw in the expanded Euros that 3rd placed teams going through put a bit of a dampener on things, so I'm quite excited at the prospect of a new, shorter group stage. The only thing I have reservations about is absolute ties between teams, because two games isn't much, and drawing lots would be a terrible way to decide who goes through.
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3 team groups. The "no draws" thing will help, but it will be hardly worth watching until the knockouts.

Last 32, Like the world cup as it is now, but as a knockout.
 
rcoobc said:
3 team groups. The "no draws" thing will help, but it will be hardly worth watching until the knockouts.

Last 32, Like the world cup as it is now, but as a knockout.
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I prefer the knockouts to the groups, they're more exciting, so an extra round of knockouts is a big plus for me. I also think the 3 team groups could make it more exciting. No one's going to want to risk being knocked out based on the drawing of lots, or by losing on penalties, so teams will have to go for the win. Obviously if the penalties thing gets agreed, then we might see a couple of the poorer teams take their chances at parking the bus, but it's not actually that successful of a tactic when there's a clear difference in the quality of the teams.
 
Going through after one game will kinda suck though. England beat USA. Brazil beat USA. Brazil and England are through, after one game.
 
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