World Cup Expansion to 48 Teams (Update: FIFA Council Agrees 2026 Slot Allocation)

Yes. I Would prefer that over a 48 World Cup in an ideal world and many others here have also discussed this topic you have brought up.
Unfortunately that is not an option.
When it comes to the World Cup Money is king. And the way to get more money is by playing more games with more teams in the actual tournament.
That said, I am such a fanatic I will watch every game and smile and wait and see how it plays out before ragging on it and complaining as many here seem to do preemptively.

 

Nowdays, there's a tendancy many countries come together to host some international competitions. A 48-teams FIFA World cup is making at leat 3 countries to bid. There're fewer countries to go it alone.

Other possible hosts countries:
England-Scotland-Wales-Northern Ireland

 

More Regional World Cups is a concept Infantino has been pushing since before he was elected. So it does seem to me that joint bids will probably be the norm going forward

 

And I believe that Team "B" should be the highest seed in the Group.

 

Not a bad idea.

Although your example also highlights what a disadvantage team B has. They are a sitting duck. The other two could conspire to a 2-1 result and both advance. This is a much bigger problem than anything to do about PKs and tiebreakers, and its not solvable (except by going back to 4-team groups).

 

Nah, the money comes with TV money.

Finding a way for China, India and perhaps Indonesia to qualify consistently would mean lots of money for FIFA.

 

The television money was not only implied it was mentioned a lot earlier in the thread.
Television Networks can charge more money to sponsors with more games and with one more round of do-or-die situations (a round of 32 which is single elimination) which add buzz and excitement and in turn higher ratings expected. (Which is more chips to bargain with.)

 

Yeah, but the group inventory is diluted, also the round of 32 will have relatively shit match ups.

It happens even now, but it is something that tv networks will deal with by pushing crappy games to stations like FS2.

The real money is getting countries to bid in the first place (or bidding more).

Just like FIFA now makes tons of money from the USA because we usually qualify. I am sure FIFA execs also want that from China, 48 teams should help China get to the WC on a consistent basis.

But 64 may not be enough for India, they really do svck.

 

Either way you slice it or spin it, having more teams in the tournament makes more money. Keeping it at 32 with more intercontinental playoffs as mentioned in the post I was replying to does not.

 

Yeah, it is the trade off between money and quality.

Keeping at 32 with more intercontinental playoffs is the best for quality and what I would prefer.

64 teams is the best for money, it keeps the format the same with one extra round, but it dilutes quality a lot and qualifying would be a joke.

48 is a compromise between the 2, but the format of 3 teams per group is shit. I would prefer 12 groups of 4, then all 1st place and the top 4 second place advance to the next round.

Shit, top 2 advance and then the 8 best 3rd places advancing would be better than the shitty 3 team groups.

 

Yeah, and at some point dilution kills quality enough to kill value. You can put water in wine to get more wine, but at some point the wine sucks enough that you don't want it.

 

Agreed! Life is too short to drink Bud Light. And we're gonna get a case of that shit every 4 years starting 2026.

 

The thing is, once expanded, it's impossible to reduce it again. No matter if in 2026, the 48-team format proves itself bad, FIFA won't be in position to retreat back to 32 teams because that would be blocked by confederations.

The most likely scenario is actually what happened when the World Cup was expanded from 16 to 24 teams: once the tournament looked awkward enough, it was expanded to 32 teams. I wouldn't be surprized if the world cup would soon be expanded to 64 teams, maybe as soon as 2030 or 2034.

 

And how many countries will be able to organize a 48 or 64 team World Cup?
Everybody's is running with the "more teams means a real world cup" cliche... as long as it's organized in their country. How is it a "real world cup" if most of the world has no chance in hell of organizing one?

 

China didn't finish in the top 8 in AFC qualifying since they actually qualified for the World Cup in 2001 (when S. Korea, Japan and Australia did not partake in AFC qualifying)!

They still won't qualify consistently under the expanded WC format, but obviously it will help them qualify from time-to-time.

 

Easy fix - only group winner progress. No sitting ducks, no dead rubbers - unless top seed plays on days 1 and 2 and wins both times.

 

I'm creating a schedule for a 48-teams FIFA World Cup. The main goal is to have 80 matches within 32 days.

Day Matchs
1 A1
2 B1, C1, D1
3 E1, F1, G1, H1
4 I1, J1, K1, L1
5 M1, N1, O1, P1
6 A2, B2, C2, D2
7 E2, F2, G2, H2
8 I2, J2, K2, L2
9 M2, N2, O2, P2
10 A3, B3, C3, D3
11 E3, F3, G3, H3
12 I3, J3, K3, L3
13 M3, N3, O3, P3
14 4*R-32
15 4*R-32
16 4*R-32
17 4*R-32
18 Rest Day
19 4*R-16
20 4*R-16
21 Rest Day
22 Rest Day
23 2*QF
24 2*QF
25 Rest Day
26 Rest Day
27 Semi-Final
28 Semi-Final
29 Rest Day
30 Rest Day
31 3rd Place Game
32 Final

A1: Group A Game 1
A2: Group A Game 2
A3: Group A Game 3

 

Group 'P'...... goodness gracious.

 

The next expansion will probably be to 64 and 4 team groups so I guess group P may be the highest we see for a while.

 

The same issues arise whether 1 or 2 teams advance from each group of 3. I would argue the issues actually become more highlighted when only the group winner advances on.

 

for those who want to get a "feeling" what a 48 team world cup format will look like, should get a read into the the CAN 1992 competition.

They wanted to increase from 8 but didn't dare to raise to 16 and came out with 4 groups with 3 teams where the top 2 of each group advance to the quarter finals.

This is quite similar to the new world cup format.

and the result?

* 34 goals in 20 matches, which is an averade of 1,7....i don't remember a tournament with a lesser average.

* in group b. morocco lost the 1st match 0-1 to cameroon and drew the 2nd with zaire 0-0 so zaire and cameroon both knew they can afford a draw in the last match, and it finished 1-1

Of course, the immediately shifted to a 16 team format in 1994.

oh, fifa....you could have 8 last matchday thrillers with 3 simulcast matches in my proposed "8 hexagonals of 6 teams with 2 pools of 3 teams in each" format, but you decided on this boring stuff. you will get a gruesome tournament for it.