FIFA Council: Worldcup 2026 and beyond will include 48 teams

[Doctor DOOM]

^ but Z., it WILL be southamerica vs europe anyway. Only after the first round.
You think allowing the likes of Bahrain, or qatar to qualify folowing Asia's top 4, will somehow change anything in the advancing teams from 1st stage?
Will THEY be advancing instead of the likes of Nigeria, Costarica, Mexco, Poland, Czeck republic, Cameroon, Ghana, ..?
No.

All this "inclusion" does is reduce the value of a WC brand. Now 1 out of every 4 team can say "we reached the WC"!
I repeat, 1 out of every 4 !!!
Where's the pride in that? where's the badge of pride and achievement?
It's going to be as passe' & rudimentary as "we have a football league"

[Doctor DOOM]

16 groups of 3 teams each, with TWO advancing to the next round!!!!!

so they've added an inconsequential round. Means those extra 16 teams will mostly be kicked out in this round, after playing two games.
So this much lobbying and spending for some UNDESERVING team to play two games, get raped and come home. But say we're pretty much on par with the likes of brazil, germany ... since we also are World Cup participants!!!
lol

[BacheLot]

^pooof, yea if thats the case, i totally agree with DD's assessment..!! its a complete bs move that will immensly damage the Prestige of WCQualification..!

off course, like i said before this change will also greatly increase the marketing value and income potential of the WC for the greedy, always scandalous FIFA, so its all fine by them i guess..!

[Nokhodi]

The potential in this is huge, for those who dont see it this opens up for the Asian countries that joined UEFA to join AFC, like turkey, azerbaijan, armenia, georgia, kazakhstan and so on.

plus this makes this more in to a world cup than an europan vs south american cup feat asia/africa

for progress of world football this is huge, europeans have been blessed with more spots more money more progress for centuries, now this is going to give others a chance.

It effectively means smaller teams only get 2 games now instead of 3!

Plus it makes the qualificaiton tournament an absolutely long torturous exercise.

[perspolis#1]

How does the new format make qualification a longer exercise? They could keep the same format in Asia as now except each group the top 3 go up. Fourth place teams in the group play a playoff against each other winner goes to world cup. (If our allocation is 7).

[Nokhodi]

How does the new format make qualification a longer exercise? They could keep the same format in Asia as now except each group the top 3 go up. Fourth place teams in the group play a playoff against each other winner goes to world cup. (If our allocation is 7).

Its not that it will be longer. It will feel longer.

[saeed_noro]

The potential in this is huge, for those who dont see it this opens up for the Asian countries that joined UEFA to join AFC, like turkey, azerbaijan, armenia, georgia, kazakhstan and so on.

plus this makes this more in to a world cup than an europan vs south american cup feat asia/africa

for progress of world football this is huge, europeans have been blessed with more spots more money more progress for centuries, now this is going to give others a chance.

we don't want them in Asia, they should stay now in Europe, because they did leave for Europe for other advantages, now coming back? no Asia don't need them.

Also south America and north america want to "share" and play one qualification (6 + 7,5 slots = 13,5 slots) according to vice president of Conmebol, so that all south American teams can qualify...or at least, more as 6 is possible compared to separate qualification modus......for example if they join together, all 10 south American teams can make it to the world cup, and 3,5 places will be left for North American continent nations. this is more okay, as to see European nations join Asia, because, they don´t bring "slots" to Asia. If Asia slots from rumored 8,5 would increase to 12 for example, than okay...but i doubt this..

[saeed_noro]

^ but Z., it WILL be southamerica vs europe anyway. Only after the first round.
You think allowing the likes of Bahrain, or qatar to qualify folowing Asia's top 4, will somehow change anything in the advancing teams from 1st stage?
Will THEY be advancing instead of the likes of Nigeria, Costarica, Mexco, Poland, Czeck republic, Cameroon, Ghana, ..?
No.

All this "inclusion" does is reduce the value of a WC brand. Now 1 out of every 4 team can say "we reached the WC"!
I repeat, 1 out of every 4 !!!
Where's the pride in that? where's the badge of pride and achievement?
It's going to be as passe' & rudimentary as "we have a football league"

But a world cup, is an world cup, and i personally like to see an asian team face an european or south American, or Africa vs. south or north American team:


48 out of 211 Nationalteams right now, means 22,75 % of the world will participate in the world cup, and still Europe will be 16/48 = 33,33 % and south America 6 out of 10 = 60 % of the continent (!) and 6/48 = 12,5 % of the participating teams will mean Europe and South America will be 55,83% of the world cup, and i think Europe (53) + South America (10) = 63 nations compared (!) to rest of the world (211-63 =148 teams) is more than fair!

The football has changed. Iran can draw Argentina, other lower football nations could beat bigger nations, Netherlands did not qualify for tournaments regulary, so everything can happen in football today, and for sure the teams will be more equal also in 2026.

I think the era of european nations and their mega slots is over. Just because Germany, Spain, Italy win world cups, this does not mean automatically that all 16 teams are world cup favorites. A good Japan or Iran team can beat Hungary, Iceland, Russia, or other nations.


And something we should NOT forget, the new modus (A winner have to be decided!) means, every game is like an playoff, the time of tactic is over, win or lose, The winner take it all, and in a group of 4, if you lose both first games, or lose one, and draw the other, your chances to qualify for the next round is over (lose both games = last game is meaningless , for example Iran vs. Angola) and this means actually a group of 4 means also that at least 2 games are important to collect point or a victory, and it is good that now 2 teams will fight for the victory, and you have the chance to qualify for next round, if you lose the first game, but you win the second, and from there it is K.O. system, which is also before in my eyes. Do you want Iran draw Argentina and beat them in penalty, or do you want Iran vs. Argentina 0:0 for example.

[saeed_noro]

Rumored slots:

Europe 16 (= Every group will have one european team)
South America 6
North America 7.5
Asia 8.5
Africa 9
Oceanian 1 (90% New Zealand, which is sad for other oceanian teams.)

Continental playoff North America vs. Asia (in WCQ2014 would mean Qatar vs. Guatemala)

[Babak agha]

WTH North America would have more slots than South?

[ehsan singapore]

is so BS, 24, is the best, 48 will make the quality of world cup drop alot!

[kia]

now even israel has a real chance to qualify... and Iran has the chance to kick israel on world stage...

A greater chance that Iran would get disqualified due to not playing against them.

[EZLN]

I think if the spots get allocated properly to each confederation, it's not such a bad idea.
The problem is that FIFA wants to give Asia more than its fair share, because Asia is such a growing market. They particularly want countries like China, UAE, Qatar etc to qualify- obviously for more money in their own pockets.

I think it wouldn't be a bad idea, if they allocate the spots something like this:

UEFA: 13 (+7) = 20
CAF: 5 (+3) = 8
AFC: 4.5 (+2.5) = 7
CONMEBOL: 4.5 (+1.5) = 6
CONCACAF: 3.5 (+1.5) = 5
OFC: 0.5 (+0.5) = 1
Plus one for Host

Europe easily has 7 quality teams each time that don't qualify.

Africa easily has 8 quality teams. Just look at their stars playing in Europe.

Asia... Okay we might not have 7 quality teams lol, but let's face it, the majority of the world's population lives in our continent. And giving 7 out of 48 spots to AFC isn't that crazy. Besides, the world's economical power is shifting towards the east. And it's not like anyone else is getting totally screwed if we get 7.

South America... 6/10 teams qualifying is fair. Although I wouldn't argue if someone says they should get 7. But come on guys, its the WORLD Cup.

North America... 5 is fair.

Oceania: They can finally get one full spot. By the way, there are talks within Australia of them going back to OFC to qualify from their own continent.

[BacheLot]

^Thats sorta what i figured the new suggested distribution of the increased seeds woulda been when i read the Thread oppener..!!
i still much rather they didnt fk with the current make-up of WC but like you said if they were to do so, that distribution would makes some sense..!!
can you imagine how difficult and Expensive such a change would make traveling Cost and the scheduling and finding suitable/affordable transportation and lodging for your avg. fan..!!?
its already difficult and expensive enough of an undertaking for folks to get away from work for over a month and spend a min of $8-10K in order to have a wholesome WC endeavor..!

[pajamNL]

After they killed off CL in Europe for me, this would kill WC for me : (