New Continental Allocations For WC 2026 and beyond -- AFC HAS 8 SPOTS

[CHaMiLLionaire]

I am surprised no one is talking about this.

FIFA announced the new slots for WC 2026 and beyond.

AFC: 8
CAF: 9
CONCACAF: 6
CONMEBOL: 6
OFC: 1
UEFA: 16


Is it fair to say, Iran will qualify directly to every World Cup? I don't know about you guys, but I love qualifications, making it out of these groups is an accomplishment in its own. Now we have nothing to look forward to until the World Cup itself.

Let's hope this improves the quality of the world cup

http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/39448474

[Nokhodi]

Its a horrible idea. 32 was really the perfect number.

[naderb94]

Iran, South Korea, Australia, Japan will qualify every time
Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia, UAE, China, Qatar will battle for the final 4 spots

[PersianLegion]

It will be funny if Iraqis still struggle to qualify! They should extend it to 16 teams from AFC so Iraq has remote chance!

[Omid177]

It will be funny if Iraqis still struggle to qualify! They should extend it to 16 teams from AFC so Iraq has remote chance!

I wouldn't be surprised if they still don't qualify. They are only capable of beating minnows like Thailand and Vietnam. Even teams like UAE and Qatar are too much for these overrated Iraqis.

[Abtin]

Haha nice, gonna be fun to watch us at every World Cup!
#ForzaIran

[GolfePersique]

That might give the likes of Mayeli Kohan and Ghalenoei a direct qualification to WC!

[BacheLot]

Such a joke move by the ever corrupt FIFA
I guess whatever pours more money in for them to steal ..!
There goes the most prestigious football tourney down the drain ..! Fkers

[mahestan]

What a joke. There goes the prestige of the World Cup.

[Team Melli Fan]

AFC increased to 17% of the allocation:

https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comm..._of_slots_for/

[Nariman]

Football is going downhill more & more. This shitty new rule makes the qualification phase less exciting as it becomes nothing special anymore to make it - even some random tokhmi arab teams might make it to the WC destroying the overall quality of game. Also there is that danger that we qualify with some halfass Iranian coach and then get exposed badly in the World Cup.

I predict a revolution in football, around 2022. There comes a time fans can’t take all this shit anymore and start to protest - either football will lose value & respect, or it will rise again - nothing between that.

[Ali Doust]

If FIFA wants our respect, they must reallocate the 2022 World Cup away from Qatar.

[Kian Persepolis]

What's the point of watching qualifiers anymore if we know Iran will qualify every single time now? 4 spots from AFC was just fine, maybe 6 at most, but 8 is just too much.

[perspolis#1]

So Syria and UAE would make it as well. The only positive is that we might get lucky and end up with OFC in our group and have an easier group stage than normal

[TM4LIFE]

Theres a couple outcomes to this.
Positives:
- More exposure for lower quality teams might mean that they will start to enhance their programs and the gap in football will decrease, if not slightly, between the big guys and the little guys
- More interest in football in the countries of those teams that don't usually qualify i.e. China, India, etc
Negatives:
- Teams will no longer be the best representatives of their region
- Overall quality of the world cup will decrease. More blowout games (ex portugal - north korea, germany - saudis), tournament will (potentially) take longer
- Qualifiers will be too much of a cake walk, low risk low reward
- Bigger burden on host countries. Adding this many more teams means they need several more stadiums. And we all know that world cup hosting isn't even economically beneficial as is..
- Less of a spotlight on those teams that do qualify. Currently, when an asian team qualifies they get a fair amount of attention as there are only 4. Eight asian teams? Nobody will give a shit.

Overall, i'm not a fan even though it might save us a couple qualifying heart attacks.