Hi guys. I was thinking about the South American Qualifiers for the future. For 2022 we probably have 4.5 spots and 2026 have 6.5 spots. How about add a playoff between 5th and 6th place. The winner goes to the interconfederation playoff. History of Conmebol WC Qualifiers. France 1998: 4.0 spots, no playoff. - Chile qualifies 4th and Peru 5th with the same points (25). - Chile qualifies by goal difference (+14 vs -1). Korea-Japan 2002: 4.5 spots, playoff againts OFC. - Uruguay was 5th and Colombia 6th with the same points (27). - Uruguay goes to playoff by goal difference (+6 vs +5). - Uruguay play against Australia and qualify. Germany 2006: 4.5 spots, playoff againts OFC. - Uruguay was 5th and Colombia 6th. - Uruguay goes to playoff with 25 points and Colombia finish with 24. - Uruguay play against Australia and qualify. South Africa 2010: 4.5 spots, playoff againts Concacaf. - Uruguay was 5th with 24 points. - Ecuador and Colombia finish 6th and 7th with 23. - Uruguay play against Costa Rica and qualify. Brazil 2014: 4.5 spots, playoff againts AFC. - Uruguay was 5th with 24 points. - Venezuela finish 6th with 20. - Uruguay play against Jordania and qualify. Russia 2018: 4.5 spots, playoff againts AFC. - Peru qualifies 4th and Chile 5th with the same points (26). - Peru goes to playoff by goal difference (+1 vs -1). - Peru play against New Zealand. Benefits - Chance to define between two similar teams (3 of 6 Qualifiers was decided by goal difference). - Teams that normally were eliminated early, had the chance to fight more matchdays (less meaningless games). - Team that finished 6th had a chance at the end of qualifiers. Now this team is eliminated. - For 2026, with 6.5 spots, playoff could be between 6th and 7th (winner qualify and loser goes to playoff) or between 7th and 8th (winner goes to playoff and loser is eliminated). Fixture 2022 - 10 FIFA Dates between 2019 and 2021. 2 Matchdays every FIFA Dates. - 2019: September (1-2), October (3-4), November (5-6). - 2020: March (7-8), September (9-10), October (11-12), November (13-14). - 2021: March (15-16), September (17-18), October (Playoff 5 vs 6), November (interconfederation playoff).
Asuming there is a rotation of opponents for interconfed playoff's, for 2022 we should have to face Concacaf 2010 was vs. Concacaf (Uruguay over Costa Rica) 2014 was vs. AFC (Uruguay over Jordan) 2018 will be OFC (now, Peru against New Zeland) 2022 : new cycle begins
I'm going to pitch my idea of a 48 nation tournament here: Actually the World Cup will still be 32 teams, but only 24 qualify directly. The next 8 spots are defined between 24 teams that play in 8 groups of 3 teams, 2 matches each team in a preliminary tournament played in November before the WC. Direct Spots Host Defending Champion AFC 3 CAF 3 CONCACAF 3 CONMEBOL 4 UEFA 9 Indirect Spots: AFC 5 CAF 5 CONCACAF 3 CONMEBOL 2 UEFA 7 OCEANIA 2 I think the preliminary tournament will guarantee better teams in the WC than the current playoff format, and they could be adjusted depending on the progress of each federation.