FIFA may reverse World Cup change for 2026 tournament
FIFA President Gianni Infantino admits that the immensely entertaining group stage of the 2022 World Cup has made Soccer governing body reconsiders changes planned for 2026.
The tournament will grow to 48 teams and a new Round of 32 four years from now, and nothing will change there.
Infantino, however, says that the planned implementation of 16 groups of three could change to 12 groups of four.
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The tournament currently has eight groups of four, clearly sending two teams each to the Round of 16. The 48-team tournament would still do that, taking a lot of the drama out of the group stage.
It would also be a challenge for the last day of the group stage, as the teams playing last would have an inherent advantage over the teams in Groups A or B.
But that certainly feels preferable to each team getting two games apiece and one team in each group likely having the disadvantage of watching the other two teams potentially decide their fate.
That being said, a 2-0 team would know they have more rest time before the round of 16.
A 64-team tournament would crush the standings and put some less competitive teams in the tournament. If you’re growing from 32, would it be worth the sacrifice in quality?
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What would the 48-team World Cup have looked like in 2022?
Each confederation earns more places in a 48-team tournament, including Oceania, which goes from an automatic slot in an inter-confederation playoff to an automatic berth in the tournament.
Asia goes to eight teams and Africa to nine. CONCACAF will have six teams, including hosts the USA, Canada and Mexico, by 2026. Europe grows to 16, South America to six, as well as the aforementioned spot of Oceania.
And there will be a tiebreaker to decide two more places, with each confederation, plus Europe, placing a team in a six-nation tournament.
Next, we’ll list the teams that played in Qatar in plain text, the teams that would join a 48-team tournament with an asterisk
and italicize the teams that would have qualified if the tournament had been 64 teams.
How dilute would it be? It’s up to you.
Uefa (16)
Belgium
France
England
Spain
Netherlands
Portugal
Denmark
Germany
Croatia
Swiss
Welsh
Serbian
Poland
Italy*
Sweden*
Ukraine*
CFA (8)
Iran
Japan
South Korea
Australia
Qatar (host)
Saudi Arabia
Iraq*
UAE*
Oman (playoff)
coffee (9)
Senegal
Morocco
Tunisia
Cameroon
Ghana
Nigeria*
Algeria*
Egypt*
Mali*
Ivory Coast (playoff)
CONCACAF (6)
Mexico
USA
Costa Rica
Canada
Panama*
Jamaica*
El Salvador (play off)
CONMEBOL (6)
Brazil
Argentina
Uruguay
Ecuador
Colombia*
Peru*
Chile (tiebreaker)
OFC (1)
New Zealand*
New Zealand and Costa Rica in the 2022 World Cup qualifying playoff (Photo by Matthew Ashton – AMA/Getty Images)
What would the 64-team World Cup have been like in 2022?
But what if the tournament were expanded to 64 teams so that two teams from each group made it to the knockout rounds, and expanded to include a Round of 32?
Assuming the expansion follows a similar route, qualifying would essentially mean that just two South American teams would miss all of the World Cups.
Should that mean CONMEBOL and CONCACAF, and Asia and Oceania, qualify together? That’s not good for the world’s carbon footprint, but we wouldn’t rule it out.
Uefa (21)
Belgium
France
England
Spain
Netherlands
Portugal
Denmark
Germany
Croatia
Swiss
Welsh
Serbian
Poland
Italy*
Sweden*
Ukraine*
Russia*
Austria*
Czechia*
Hungary*
Scotland*
CFA (11)
Iran
Japan
South Korea
Australia
Qatar (host)
Saudi Arabia
Iraq*
UAE*
Oman*
Uzbekistan*
Porcelain*
coffee (13)
Senegal
Morocco
Tunisia
Cameroon
Ghana
Nigeria*
Algeria*
Egypt*
Mali*
Ivory Coast*
Burkina Faso*
South Africa*
Cape Verde*
CONCACAF (8)
Mexico
USA
Costa Rica
Canada
Panama*
Jamaica*
The Savior*
Honduras*
CONMEBOL (8)
Brazil
Argentina
Uruguay
Ecuador
Colombia*
Peru*
Chili*
Paraguay*
OFC (2)
New Zealand*
Scotland vs Ukraine in the 2022 World Cup qualifying playoff (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
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