Just wondering, if UEFA or CAF can have it like Conmebol. So UEFA have lets say for an example 5 groups with 10 teams in every group. And for world cup 2026 we have 16 teams, so the 3 best from every group qualify and for the last place, a play-off between
i think it is impossible. conmebol has no copa america qualifiers. that is, why they can start three years before the world cup finals. that date, europe is still in the euro qualifiers, uefa nations league and euro finals. i am also against it, as it makes a single qualifier less meaningfull and i would fear early decisions as the gap between the 10 conmebol teams is much smaller than between 56 uefa teams.
Ahh that is true, we have euro qualify too. Didnt think about that. Hmm oki, i would like to test it.
CONMEBOL gets at least 4.5 spots. If you gave UEFA 5 groups and 13 spots, the top two and some third place teams would qualify. There would be too many meaningless games or games where you knew the better team was going to beat San Marino. It would be like taking a top league and removing relegation so clubs who couldn't qualify for the Champions League or Europa League had nothing to play for.
I think that the UEFA qualifiers should keep the groups-of-6 format, but have two divisions. The first division teams would compete to qualify and to avoid relegation, whereas the second division teams would compete to get promoted. For the World Cup (16 teams), the first division would have 6 groups (36 teams). The top 2 teams from each group would qualify automatically, and the four remaining spots would be filled some way. The second division would have 3 groups (18 teams), and the top 4 teams from each group would get promoted. For the UEFA Euro (24 teams), the first division would have 8 groups (48 teams). The top 3 teams from each group would qualify, whereas the the 5th and 6th placed teams would get relegated. The second division would have 1 group (6 teams), and the top 4 teams would get promoted.
I think every team should get a chance at qualifying for every World Cup. UEFA used to have different levels for Women's World Cup qualifying where only some teams got a chance, but they changed to giving every team a chance.