News: Club World Cup to Expand; Confederations Cup to End

Yup.

 

One of my complaints aboult a 24-team Club World Cup is the poor representation.

There won't be 24 countries represented. Spain or England could have teams. United States and Netherlands could have none.

 

This is what FIFA wants though.
They know that a greater amount of people on this planet would rather watch Juve-Man City in the summer when nothing else is going on rather than African team vs, Asian team mediocrity.

 

Its just a re-branding of the ICC, with profits funelled to FIFA’s mouths.

Pure cash-grab!

 

Yup
I pretty much mentioned this months ago.

This is going to be the ICC but with official matches.

 

I'm really starting to dislike Infantino. From expanded the World Cup with a perfect format to 48 teams with those 3 team groups to now maybe this?

 

Well, he made these promises when he ran for President and he is keeping his promises. You can't fault a politician for that.

Usually people complain when a politician does not keep his promises.

 

Would the proposed Nations League still happen even with an expanded Club World Cup? Given a choice I'd prefer a global Nations League. Who would rather see Bayern Munich vs Chivas instead of Germany vs Mexico, Boca Juniors vs Enyimba instead of Argentina vs Nigeria, or PSG vs Sydney FC instead of France vs Australia? Even with a 24 team CWC, there probably wouldn't be more than 15 nations represented. I could be wrong, but the appeal seems limited. And with half the field being UEFA teams, it only stacks the deck even further in favor of UEFA as if they need an advantage. Is an eight team European club QF a good thing or does it only make a mockery of the tournament? There's a reason there's no CWC in baseball, american football, baseball, and hockey. This expansion would only confirm the superiority of UEFA clubs. It does serve a purpose, but my suggestion would be to keep it as is with only four clubs playing each other round robin (UEFA, CAF, AFC-OFC playoff winner, CONCACAF_CONMEBOL playoff winner), or have a biennial tournament with eight teams in two groups with the same format as above. This way the tournament still exists and the summer could be used for the Nations League.

 

It's crazy but Asia and Africa decide the elections. The last three presidents have pretty much won their candidacy by promising them more World Cup spots.

 

The NBA and NHL playoffs take too long. They have four rounds that each require winning four games so they take up to seven games. I'd prefer reducing each round to needing to win three games followed by a series against the best team in the sport from another league. Let the leagues alternate years with one league hosting Games 1 and 2 and the other league hosting Games 3 and 4. If it was 2-2, it could be decided by a Game 5 at a neutral site. The NBA and NHL can say that they're "obviously" the best league in their sport, but if the "obviously" better team was declared the winner without playing, the USA couldn't have won the Miracle on Ice.

The closest thing to a CWC in another sport could be the Little League World Series. I have relatives in Endwell, NY. Two years ago Maine-Endwell won the Little League World Series, and I got to talk to someone whose friends played on the team. Fans could easily drive to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, PA, which is 2:14 away according to Goole Maps. The winner of the international bracket of eight teams was from Seoul. Most of the international teams are from Asia or another country in the Americas. The Europe and Africa region is normally represented by Europe, but in 2015 a team from Kampala, Uganda beat a team from Dominican Republic. A website says it takes 15:38 to fly from Seoul to Williamsport. The American and International winners play in a World Championship game.

 

The play-offs are great. I'd cut the regular seasons by half, or a quarter. The best years are strike years, when the regular season is reduced by a work stoppage.

 

That's what my parents were saying. They liked the shortened NHL season in 2012-2013.

 

I would like to see an MLB-NPB series in baseball, and possibly NHL-KHL. But for basketball I think the NBA is so far ahead of any other league that it would be way too one-sided.

 

Nowadays, I am rather positive about expanding more teams in WC.
64 participants will be perfect.

 

I'd watch.

 

Does Europe have a Champions League for hockey? I think basketball has a presence in more European countries than hockey does, but that could make the KHL by far the best league other than the NHL, whereas more basketball leagues could compete for the best non-NBA players.

 

I agree, but it right now its difficult to see room for the 2 tournaments to co-exist.

For me though, the key attraction of the Nations League is the matches within confederations. Whether the UEFA, CONCACAF, etc. leagues are linked together to form a global knockout tournament every 4 years is less important. And looking at the schedules, it doesn't appear like the expanded CWC will have any impact on the UEFA NL. Which is good...

 

The group-stage would seem never-ending.

 

Knowing FIFA they will do that eventually.