World Cup: Fifa to expand competition to 48 teams

World Cup: Fifa to expand competition to 48 teams after vote

• 42 minutes ago

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Fifa president Gianni Infantino had said the World Cup had to be "more inclusive"
The World Cup will be expanded to host 48 teams, up from 32, Fifa has decided.
An initial stage of 16 groups of three teams will precede a knockout stage for the remaining 32 when the change is made for the 2026 tournament.
The sport's world governing body voted unanimously in favour of the change at a meeting in Zurich on Tuesday.
The number of tournament matches will rise to 80, from 64, but the eventual winners will still play only seven games.
According to Fifa's own research, revenue is predicted to increase to £5.29bn for a 48-team tournament, giving a potential profit rise of £521m.
Infantino says the decision on who will get the extra qualification slots has yet to be decided but "this will be looked at speedily".
"No guarantees have been made. The only sure thing is that everyone will have a bit more [representation] than they have today."
He says there is no rush to decide what will be used to separate teams who end on the same points and goal difference. Reports had suggested there could be a penalty shootout at the end of each drawn match.
But he said: "With regard to penalties, this will be part of the regulations to be decided a few years before the event, it is nothing for now.
"These are topics that will be dealt with close to the tournament."

FA wants further information
The Football Association said in a statement: "We will work with Uefa, Fifa and the other European associations to understand how the 48-team Fifa World Cup will work.
"The priority has to be consideration of the potential impact on fans, players, teams and leagues, and also recognition of the importance of sporting integrity and commercial viability.
"In terms of the allocation of places, we note that further discussions will follow across the confederations and would expect a proper consultation process to be carried out before any decision is made."
Scottish FA chief executive Stewart Regan welcomed the expansion, saying it was a a "positive step, particularly for the smaller nations".
European football's governing body Uefa said: "It was clear that all other confederations were overwhelmingly in favour of expanding the Fifa World Cup to 48 teams. As a result, Uefa decided to join in supporting the new format of the competition.
"Uefa is satisfied that it succeeded in postponing the final decision regarding the slot allocation of every confederation in the future format of the Fifa World Cup.
"We would also like to state that we are happy that the new proposed length and format of the tournament does not increase the burden on players. We will also ensure that clubs' interests will continue to be protected."

'It will dilute the competitiveness'
The European Club Association (ECA), which represents the interests of clubs at European level, reiterated that it was not in favour of an expansion. It said Fifa had made a political rather than sporting decision.
"We fail to see the merits to changing the current format of 32 that has proven to be the perfect formula from all perspectives," it said in a statement.
"Questionable is also the urgency in reaching such an important decision, with nine years to go until it becomes applicable, without the proper involvement of stakeholders who will be impacted by this change.
"ECA will analyse in detail the impact and the consequences of the new format and will address the matter at the next meeting of its executive board, scheduled for the end of January."
New Fifa Now, a campaign group that says the governing body needs to reform, labelled the expansion "a money grab and power grab".
"It will dilute the competitiveness of the tournament and, therefore, the enjoyment of fans," it said in a statement.
"It will not help development of the game or provide improved competitive opportunities for lower-ranked nations. Instead, it will make a mockery of the qualification process for most confederations."

History of World Cup overhauls
World Cup Teams Format
1930 Uruguay 13 1 group of 4 and 3 groups of 3, with only top team progressing to semi-finals
1934 Italy 16 Straight knockout tournament
1950 Brazil 15 (13 took part) 3 groups of 4 and 1 group of 3, with top side progressing to final group of four
1954 Switzerland 16 4 groups of 4, but only 2 games in each group, with top 2 sides through to quarter-finals
1958 Sweden 16 4 groups of 4, this time with 3 games. Top 2 sides through to quarter-finals
1974 West Germany 16 4 groups of 4 but now followed with 2 groups of 4, the 2 top sides competing the final
1982 Spain 24 6 groups of 4 followed by 4 groups of 3, the winner of each qualifying for the semi-finals
1986 Mexico 24 6 groups of 4, top 2 sides and 4 best 3rd-placed teams qualifying for round of 16
1998 France 32 8 groups of 4, top 2 sides progressing to knockout rounds

 

I'm not surprised Scotland are happy with it, they might actually qualify.

 

Ireland would agree with FIFA and Scotland on this occasion. It is good news for teams that don't normally qualify. 48 teams is practically one third of all footballing nations. 48 teams x 3 group games in the finals is 144 games in the group stages alone. The tournament will take all Summer to complete and the players won't get a rest.

 

I think England would be happy too!

 

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C100kiaXUAAIrGy.jpg

 

how many teams from each confederation allready go to the world cup
might not be any good for scotland or ireland but it should allow more teams from the other confederations to qualify

 

If they did expand to 48 teams, the days when one single country held the whole tournament are probably over. With 160+ games, it would probably have to be shared across a whole Continent rather than one single country. UEFA are doing that for the 2020 Euros.

 

The number of tournament matches will rise to 80, from 64, but the eventual winners will still play only seven games.

 

Or in England's case, 2!

 

I'm not so sure about the qualifying bit.

I think more weight will be put towards the lesser Confederations. They may add may be 2 more teams from UEFA for qualifying spots, but I think the spots will be weighted towards the other ones, if the "inclusion" bit is to be used politically.

 

It will never work if they continue to allow seeding, and they have to use seeding, unfortunately, to protect the stronger teams for TV and ticket moneys.
Which means that the top seeded teams will get a bye-round allowing them to skip the first group stage, right?
That's going to make the year-long initial qualifying season, during the club season, a total mind-f@@k.
The stress put on players and clubs will be immense. And so, to save the players, they'll change the rules to allow for 5 or 6 substitutions, if not a complete team 11 subs (which the Americans would love, of course ), and that'll be end of football as we know it if that is to be allowed.

I think the current format of the 32 is great. I hope they don't go to this silly 48.

 

Ridiculous!
16 teams in the finals would be enough, giving meaning to every game.

 

Money orientated decision......probably find that the 2026 McDonalds sponsored World Cup will be played in China.......

It's no wonder this guy was elected as he promised the smaller confederations more say and more places in the Finals, so they gave him their backing......Blatter couldn't have played it any better.

Don't ever expect to see a World Cup hosted in England again.........

 

Very cynical Mr. Tramore sir, but spot on.

 

Cynical? Moi?

 

whats wrong with the smaller confederations getting more places

 

Nothing at all, but surely there has to be a certain standard as they are the world cup finals. What is the point of countries like Burkina Faso (ranked 50th in the world) being placed in a group with the likes of Germany and getting tonked 10-0?

 

its the world cop
not the top 48 ranked teams in the world cup

1 1634pts

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Argentina 1 1 1 1 1
2 1544pts

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Brazil 2 3 4 9 9
3 1433pts

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Germany 3 2 3 4 4
4 1404pts

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Chile 4 6 6 5 5
5 1368pts

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Belgium 5 4 2 2 2
6 1345pts

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Colombia 6 5 4 3 3
7 1305pts

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France 7 7 8 7 7
8 1229pts

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Portugal 8 8 7 6 6
9 1187pts

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Uruguay 9 9 9 12 12
10 1166pts

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Spain 10 10 11 8 8
11 1129pts

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Switzerland 11 14 16 18 18
12 1121pts

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Wales 12 11 10 11 11
13 1114pts

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England 13 12 12 13 13
14 1103pts

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Croatia 14 16 14 15 15
15 1087pts

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Poland 15 15 17 16 16
16 1083pts

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Italy 16 13 13 10 10
17 1041pts

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Costa Rica 17 18 18 21 27
18 1012pts

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Mexico 18 17 15 14 14
19 965pts

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Peru 19 23 25 33 34
20 890pts Ecuador 20 19 19 17 17
21 889pts Iceland 21 21 27 23 22
22 887pts Netherlands 22 20 24 26 26
23 858pts Republic of Ireland 23 33 31 31 31
24 851pts Turkey 24 25 21 19 19
25 837pts Slovakia 25 26 28 24 23
26 826pts Hungary 26 22 20 19 19
27 825pts Bosnia and Herzegovina 27 28 23 29 29
28 822pts USA 28 24 22 26 25
29 814pts Iran 30 27 37 39 39
30 804pts Ukraine 29 29 29 30 30
31 773pts Austria 31 30 26 22 21
32 767pts Northern Ireland 32 36 30 28 28
33 755pts Senegal 33 32 39 41 41
34 746pts Côte d\'Ivoire 34 31 34 36 35
35 738pts Tunisia 34 38 42 45 45
36 719pts Egypt 36 46 53 43 43
37 699pts Korea Republic 37 44 47 48 48
38 692pts Algeria 38 35 35 32 32
39 690pts Romania 39 34 32 25 24
40 684pts Paraguay 40 37 36 42 42
41 675pts Sweden 41 39 41 40 40
42 674pts Greece 42 42 48 52 52
43 671pts Czech Republic 43 40 33 34 33
44 647pts Serbia 44 43 50 47 47
45 644pts Japan 45 51 56 49 57
46 643pts Denmark 46 50 46 44 44
47 641pts Australia 48 40 45 57 59
48 638pts Congo DR 47 49 51 56 59


even then scotland miss out

i think the team ranked 109th should get a wild card entry

 

Sorry Kiwi, I got the maths wrong.

We have gone from 1966 when the only Asian and African participant was North Korea to 48 countries in 2026. The increase will largely come from the non European federations. There will be 16 groups of 3 teams. Can't wait to see Equatorial Guinea v Papua New Guinea in Group P. Can I have a P please Bob.

All this done behind closed doors in Zurich without discussion. The result will mean Infantino gets reelected and the USA always qualifies meaning mega bucks in advertising for FIFA.

 

My point was that by increasing numbers FIFA are decreasing quality.