England Forum - FIFA World Cup 2026: Other Teams Thread

How can they complain about the internationals which happen very infrequently but have an extended champions league. Pushing all internationals to the summer is more detrimental to players than it is now

 

I know but it is what it is suspect a lot of leagues and clubs want and will seek to get if a FIfA breakaway is even proposed.

 

Will we ever find out what actuality happened in Argentina’s dressing room before the match. Lots of conspiracy theories ground round but all we have Messi telling them to move on as they come out.

 

What are you referring to?

 

https://talksport.com/football/worl...a-cryptic-message-retirement-world-cup-final/

 

Exclusive: Inside story of Trump's call to Infantino to review Balogun's red.🟥
- Infantino guaranteed he'd look into the case
- FIFA deny political interference, but UEFA insiders call Infantino "a ventriloquist ‘Gianni’"
- Doubts over Ceferin's motiveshttps://t.co/FNI5xh3Gj3

— Ben Jacobs (@JacobsBen) July 21, 2026

Ceferin didn’t go to Women World Cup final in 2023 or the Club World Cup final either.

Trump wants to nominate FIFA boss Gianni Infantino for UN secretary-general following World Cuphttps://t.co/wHp0hYzU60 pic.twitter.com/99dIrDrUSC

— New York Post (@nypost) July 21, 2026

Lol.

 

Although a somewhat more enviable position than being one of the 187 nations that have won 0 World Cups.

 

https://www.euronews.com/2026/07/22...ake-spain-great-again-cap-at-world-cup-parade
Ferran Torres dividing Spain with his hat.

 

Got a laugh at the end of the article over Argentinians whinging about Cucarella's choice of song.

 

The proportion of Britons with a favourable opinion of Lionel Messi has fallen from 55% to 29% since the start of the World Cup

Jude Bellingham is one of the tournament's big winners, with 67% of the public now seeing England's top goal scorer positively, an increase of 19… pic.twitter.com/Cd2Vod0Evb

— YouGov (@YouGov) July 22, 2026

 

Exclusive: Norway to launch formal complaint about Trump's Balogun interference to FIFA ethics committee.

Interview here with NFF president Lise Klaveness about FIFA, plus on Norway's football transformation.
https://t.co/fMT7N1fGMb

— Martyn Ziegler (@martynziegler) July 23, 2026

 

An international advisory body has raised seven notices relating to possible match manipulation from potential betting irregularities identified in the 2026 men’s World Cup.

The findings from the Group of Copenhagen — an independent international network dedicated to detecting,… pic.twitter.com/wpBmso6C1o

— The Athletic | Football (@TheAthleticFC) July 23, 2026

Argentina coach Roberto Ayala claimed that footage showing him 'punching' Spain star Dani Olmo after the World Cup final was 'more of a push' - Daily Mirror

 

Argentina president Javier Milei has slammed his country's 'jealous' critics after the shameful scenes that unfolded at the World Cup - Daily Express

 

latching on to the word unfair.

just wait until 2030 when it is spread out across South America, Europe, and North Africa. all six host nations have been granted automatic qualification for the tournament, apparently, as well.

oh, and the whole thing will begin with three centenary celebration matches in Uruguay, Argentina, and Paraguay before the tournament moves to Spain, Portugal, and Morocco for the remaining matches.

how's that for balance?

 

Argentina also had all of their games either indoors or on an evening.

 

And it will likely be 64-team tournament.

 

I don’t see that happening. I think UEFA will say if it’s 64 we not going to be there.

 

I hope UEFA - the most powerful confederation - takes the lead in killing a 64 team tournament, but I don’t think there will be consensus even within UEFA about this issue. I’m thinking of teams like Ireland, Denmark, Romania, etc. who don’t always qualify for the World Cup, so teams like those might be open to a 64 team tournament.

 

FIFA politics being what it is means that few of those 16 extra places will be for UEFA. So I’m not convinced that many UEFA members will be in favor of it.

 

All those teams would qualify anyway so that is not a big issue. Traveling from a South American winter to a blazing hot Iberia or North Africa is. How do you acclimatise? 12 hour flights too. I can see FIFA trying to move the timing of the tournament to Spring or Autumn. The added cost is not fair on fans either.

England should be a top seed and that should mean we don't have to travel to South America.

Conmebol wants only 2030 to be 64 teams for the centenary and not any subsequent World Cups. They just want to host three groups rather than 3 matches. Then they want to go back to 48 in 2034. I doubt Saudi Arabia wants to try to host an extra 24 mostly low quality matches either. Hopefully they and their allies will be against expansion.

 

Hot and humid matches is a big issue. In 2014 no team that played in Manaus won their next match. Could England have done better/less abysmally if we hadn't started in Manaus? We will never know.

 

Doubt it. The autumn would see reduced income from the USA due to clashing with the NFl whose broadcasting rights are soon to be sold. The Spring also seems unlikely.

Plus UEFA could simply say if won’t rearrange its schedules and that would be that.

 

FIFA boss Gianni Infantino goes full Trump as he furiously slams World Cup critics for 'spreading hate' in blistering social media rant https://t.co/z6hZcKZfAb

— Daily Mail Sport (@MailSport) July 27, 2026