The group stage will still be 3 matchdays long. So it will feel all a bit slow at the beginning since the length of the group stage is the same as in the current format but only 1 team gets eliminated instead of 2.
Exactly it all depends on the 2026 FIFA World Cup Group Draw and off that Group Draw not every group is going to be full of minnows. For all we know a minnow could even end up surprising us all. Like the old coinphrase anything can happen in football.
Yeah okay it will feel a bit slow but at the same time with 48 teams in the tournament with TV schedules permitting, we could get 3 or at least 4 group games a day
That's mainly been due to the FHF stupidly firing coaches in spite of good runs in cup tournaments. See: kicking out Luis Armelio García (who led Haiti to a Caribbean Cup title) in 2007 in favor of the inexperienced Wagneau Eloi, or tossing out Marc Collat at the end of 2015 in favor of the snake-oil salesman Patrice Neveu If the FHF can kick its addition to shooting itself in the foot and leave Collat in charge this time, Haiti's gonna do some damage in WCQ
Yeah I too think Haiti could do damage in 2022 qualifiers but 2026 is more of a possibility for them to be in Canada-USA-Mexico
I can understand weighing in the pros and cons but to focus only on the cons seems a bit silly and ridiculous.
Unfortunately, the new qualifying format in CONCACAF makes it tough for emerging teams like Haiti. If you don't have a good FIFA ranking (top 6 in CONCACAF) based on past performance you are pretty much screwed in the short-term. I just wonder to what extent the new qualifying format impacts the ability for a country to improve their FIFA ranking so that they have a fighting chance for the next qualifying cycle?
For the 2022 cycle the Qualifying apparently will be the top 12 teams from the FIFA rankings so they benefit from that late change. For the 2026 we have no idea what the format will be.
Yeah but they are changing the format for 2022 apparently but for 2026 it gives countries like Haiti a chance especially since 2026 will be a 48 team World Cup and Canada, USA and Mexico won't be a part of qualifying being hosts
I wonder how 2026 qualifying format is going to change for CONCACAF especially since USA, Canada and Mexico are hosts and most likely won't take part in qualifiers.
I guess on one hand they don't need to change it. CONCACAF gets more spots but 3 nations qualify automatically, hence roughly the same number of teams will qualify on merit. But my feeling is they will still change it. There is no reason to use the silly 2022 format as it was only invented to protect US and Mexico. Two groups of 4 is how I predict the final round of 2026 qualifying to be structured.
Except that's not how football fans operate. Very few people are going to opt out of watching the group stages just because they don't like the format. Personally I'd find it hard to connect with the knockout phase of a tournament if I hadn't followed "the story so far" in the group stages.
Makes sense but since CONCACAF gets 6 spots...6 teams then wouldn't it make more sense for 2026 that there are 3 groups of 4 and winners of those groups qualify for Canada-USA-Mexico 2026 and the 4th best placed team then goes into the inter confederation playoff
That's another option. But I don't really like it since "Best 2nd place team" should be determined on the field (head-to-head) and that's difficult to do if you have 3 groups. Plus if you draw Costa Rica you are screwed from the get-go.
Well yes and no because think about it...if you bring the Hex back for 2026 then that is the beauty of it. The beauty of it being that USA, Canada and Mexico will not be in that Hex because if they are hosts, they qualify automatically which means they can sit back and watch other teams in CONCACAF qualify. Because as hosts, all they would be doing in the build up, in the lead up towards 2026 is playing friendly matches against countries who could be World Cup bound. While for other countries in the Hex in 2026, you would have: Costa Rica Panama Jamaica Honduras Trinidad and Tobago Haiti But then if you do 3 groups of 4 teams (12 teams): Costa Rica Panama Honduras Jamaica Trinidad and Tobago Haiti Curacao Suriname El Salvador Guyana Barbados Martinique St Vincent and Grenadines
I'm interested to see the calendar and match times for the tournament. Will it be 4 or 5 matches a day in group phase. In past for European tv World Cups in America were played earlier in the day to accommodate European tv market. With so many matches and Groups we could get matches from Noon eastern to 11pm eastern.
With the WC being a 48 team WC in 2026, I think we will get 4 or 5 group stage matches per day on TV and games actually starting from: 7am 9am 12pm 3pm Or 9am 12pm 3pm 6pm 9pm
According to the proposed match schedule of the United bid book 3 to 4 matches will be played daily between the group phase and the round of 32 https://resources.fifa.com/image/upload/united-2026-bid-book.pdf?cloudid=w3yjeu7dadt5erw26wmu page 140-141. As usual FIFA will have the last word
I'm not sure you can play a match before noon eastern. At the very earliest 11am eastern. Just too early in day to compete with normal morning traffic especially during the week. Playing matches at 7am is crazy. They won't make that big of a change. I can see something like 12pm, 3pm, 6p, 9pm or 11am, 1:30pm, 4p, 6:30pm, 9pm. Try to shuff schedule where Europe's big teams play during the day and The Americas and Asias big teams play at night.
I mean here in Canada where I'm from...the games would have to go on early but apparently since in the Bid Book for USA-Mexico-Canada if it is 3 games a day, then here in Canada, games would have to be on at 9am, 12pm and 3pm
Did it say those times in the bid book? I missed that if it did. I just find it odd if that were the case matches would be played earlier than they were in Brazil considering their time zone is ahead of all the North American time zones. In previous Mexico World Cups no matches in 1970 or 1986 were played before 12noon local time. In fact all matches were 12noon or 4pm local time. Which would translate to 1pm and 5pm eastern. In USA 1994 11:30am eastern was the earliest kickoff and 7:30pm eastern being the latest kickoff time. In Argentina in 1978 earliest kickoff was 1:45pm local time and latest kickoff was 7:15pm local time. In Brazil in 2014 matches in Group Stage were 1pm, 4pm, 7pm, local time in most cases. One exception was a 10pm local kickoff on a 4 match gameday. Some hour exceptions when matches were played in a different time zone than what most of Brazil follows. Knockout matches were 1pm and 5pm local with final being 4pm local. My guess is matches in 2026 would follow similar pattern. No earlier than 11:30am local time. On a 4 match gameday maybe 11:30am eastern (played only in eastern timezone cities, then 2:30pm eastern (anywhere), 5:30pm eastern (anywhere) and 8:30pm eastern (perhaps only have those matches in central, mountain or pacific time zone cities. I know in Qatar 2022 matches will be 1pm, 4pm, 7pm, 10pm locally which translates to 6am, 9am, 12noon and 3pm eastern. With knockout matches I believe being 6pm and 10pm locally with final being at 7pm locally. Knockout match times aren't confirmed but Group Stage times were.
11am kickoffs do make some sense as you avoid some of the summer heat. And you can squeeze 3 matches in prime time in Europe (sort of). Safe to say that from Quarter finals onward almost all the matches will kick off at about noon local time.