The FIFA Council will confirm the mode of play for the next World Cup this week, which is expected to be different than originally planned.
Hosted jointly by the United States, Mexico and Canada, the 2026 World Cup marks the beginning of a new era for football’s biggest event. After 28 years and seven editions played with 32 teams, the next World Cup will see another increase in the number of participants and will be played with 48 teams.
How quotas will be distributed in the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada
The arrival of 16 new entrants forces FIFA to change the contestation system of its main competition, which since France 1998 had a comfortable balance between the number of teams, the level of competitiveness and the number of matches played per edition. The final decision on the new format will be made next Thursday, March 16, during the congress that will hold the mother house of football in Kigali.
HOW WILL THE NEW WORLD CUP FORMAT BE WITH 48 TEAMS?
When it was announced that the World Cup in North America would have 16 teams more than Qatar 2022, FIFA unveiled a tentative format idea, with 16 zones of three participants each and two seeded per group to play the direct elimination phase, which would add one wheel and instead of starting in the round of 16, he would start in the round of 16.
However, the proposal did not receive good acceptance and among the many criticisms leveled at it, two stood out: one is the high risk of elimination, which means only two matches will be played in the group stage, and the other is that the zones of three They leave too open the possibility of the existence of ‘biscotto’: that on the last date two teams agree on a result that classifies them both.
For this reason, already during the dispute of the last World Cup, rumors began to circulate about the possibility of a change to the original plans and according to The Athletic media, a new proposal will be voted on at the Kigali Congress: The 48 teams will be divided into 12 zones of four teams each and the top two of each group and the top eight teams in third place will qualify for 16th place.
HOW MANY MATCHES WILL BE PLAYED IN THE 2026 WORLD CUP
One of the main reasons FIFA gave for adding 16 teams to the World Cup and breaking out of a format that worked and was accepted globally was that fans could enjoy a greater number of matches with 48 teams: with the original plan of the groups of three and the knockout phase starting in the round of 32, the number of matches would go from 64 to 80.
With the new idea of the 12 zones of four and the final stage also of the wheel of 32, meanwhile there will be even more competitions: if this format is confirmed, 104 matches will be played at the 2026 World Cup in North America.
This change not only means that to become world champions, a team must play eight matches, one more than before, but it also forces an extension of the duration of the match, which will take approximately ten days. This change reduces the time to prepare the different outfits for the appointment from three to two weeks.
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Source: Goal