News: FIFA to expand World Cup to 48 teams in 2026, impact upon the USA

This stuff worries me, because I frankly do not want to see the end of international soccer as we know it. Nonetheless, one could say it's a natural reaction to the directions that FIFA has gone in recent years.

 

As much as I love international soccer (more than anything else really) this would be what FIFA deserves.

 

Yes, that happened once but seriously speaking it was because Maradona was coach.

 

There's nothing to worry about. This is just more moneyball.

The ECA knew expansion was inevitable (pretty much the entire planet was in favor outside of European clubs and a handful of European federations - there's only so much one can do to ignore or put a lid on that kind of political pressure) and has already gotten the main concessions they wanted (ex: expansion without adding additional games, possible end to Confed cup, etc). All the ECA is trying to do now is maximize financial gain and ensure they get as much of that expanded pie as possible.

Infantino spent a ton of time letting everyone who would listen know how much money the expansion would make, so he has no excuse - he sort of invited this kind of attack. The whole world knows how much cash he's going to get with expansion and there's no reason for other interests not to push for some of it. Of all those other interests, the clubs have the most pull/leverage, so this call was to be expected.

This message and threat of "revolution" is just designed to let FIFA know that they may get their expansion, but they won't get it quietly unless the clubs are paid properly. The ECA message is "you've got the money, we know you have the money, you went out of your way to let us all know how much more money you'd have with expansion, so you better set aside plenty of that money for us. We won't be shortchanged". Rumenigge is basically saying to Infantino "our deal ends in 2022; you will get what you wanted, but you better compensate us properly for this or we'll be a thorn in your side".

Infantino will have no choice but to significantly increase payments to clubs contributing international players. He will also make a few additional concessions (probably ending the Confed cup, maybe some modifications to the calendar, etc, etc). His challenge will be to do this without jeopardizing his other financial obligations (ex: the promises he made to expand payments to every federation using WC revenue). He'll negotiate some way to do this during the next 5 years, the ECA will get their money, and that'll be the end of it.

 

Most likely FIFA will offer the ECA a lot of money to comply.

 

KICK‏Verified account @KICK 6m6 minutes ago


Proposed 48 team #WorldCup allocation:
AFC: 8 slots
CAF: 9 slots
CONCACAF: 6 slots
CONMEBOL: 6 slots
OFC: 1 slot
UEFA: 16 slots


although the math only makes up to 46 not 48. Are they going for co-hosts???

 

ZURICH (AP) — FIFA wants to hold a new six-team playoff round in the 2026 World Cup host country to complete the expanded 48-team tournament lineup.

The final two qualifying slots would be decided in the proposed mini-tournament played in the November before the World Cup as a test event, a move that puts the Confederations Cup's long-term future at risk.

 

so
"FIFA also said its bureau—comprising Infantino and six confederations presidents—wants automatic entry for host nations to come from a confederation's quota."

so if the US for example becomes host than it means CONCACAF only gets 5 slots since the USA would take one slot from CONCACAF's quota. Is this right?

and the last 2 spots are like a mini-tournament, excluding Europe. Very weird stuff.

 

I think UEFA only wants 16, so they have 1 team in each of the 16 groups... maybe they opted out of the mini tournament.

With so many allocations for every confed the automatic host coming from the confed quota makes sense to me.

Lets say US, Mexico and Canada cohost, then that leaves 3 for the rest of CONCACAF to battle over. Most likely teams like CR, Panama, T&T, Honduras and Jamiaca will be battling for those 3.

 

I wonder if FIFA would make room for the BS All-Stars.

 

Six is too many for CONCACAF. At least one of those should be CAF's or CONMEBOL's.

Eight is far too many for AFC. They are going to be sending at least a couple of really bad teams.

 

Yes, but that confederation would get the 6th spot in the playoff tournament. So the host confederation would lose .5 or .75 of a spot, depending on how their first team out is seeded.

 

The hex is dead... CONCACAF will need a new process in the 2026 cycle.

 

Unless they cohost so it would look like this for CONCACAF

3 auto spots for the hosts
US host
Canada host
Mexico host

3 to battle for in regular qualification
CR qualified directly
Panama qualified directly
Honduras qualified directly

2 for the pre WC playoff tournament
Jamaica
Guatemela

8 potential spots total when hosting

 

if this fails can we please return to 32 for 2030?

 

this is so depressing, 32 was the perfect size. Qualifying will be so meaningless now. We are going to have to hope for a regular combined Copa to get any decent games in the cycle.

This also likely kills the big US Mexico qualifiers.

 

CONMEBOL's #7 must be liking their chances. They could end up sending 70% of their teams.

 

"You see grand kids, just qualifying for the World Cup was a time for everyone that loved U.S. soccer to celebrate! For y'alls generation, it has become meh. Which is a shame."---The future me

 

Fifa has been trying for years to kill my interest in international soccer. They may eventually get the job done. It's hard to get behind a sport run by an international criminal organization.

 

Sounds like FIFA's version of the First Four.

Honestly though, I would like to see a Confederations Cup format replacing intercontinental playoffs. Right now, the format is rather harsh with some teams having to play CONMEBOL and others playing OFC. Costa Rica might have made the 2010 WC with a OFC draw. Mexico may have missed out in 2014 had they played CONMEBOL's rep in that cycle.

 

After 2014 we had a full cycle over 3 world cups where each of the playoff confederations played each other once. The weak link wasn't OFC as you infer, it was Asia. OFC, CONCACAF and CONMEBOL each won two playoffs, and Asia didn't win any.

 

I'm actually in favor of expanding the Cup, but 48? C'mon. I was thinking maybe like 40, at the most.

Here's what it is. As it currently stands, CONCACAF, CAF, and AFC have roughly 1 qualifying spot per 10 member federations. By contrast, UEFA has about 1 per 4. And CONMEBOL has 1 in 2. Basically, the World Cup is a European-South American sausage fest, and the rest of us are plus-ones who brought pasta salad.

But now there's a lot more money being pumped into soccer from CONCACAF, CAF, and especially AFC. And those backers aren't happy that they're not getting a fair shot. So here's the conversation:

AFC, CAF, CONCACAF: "Hey - we're investing a lot of money now, but you guys have so much more representation at the most lucrative and prestigious international event. We want more spots at the table."
CONMEBOL, UEFA: "Hmm. We don't want to give them our seats, but on the other hand, we love their money. Okay, how do you propose to solve this?"
AFC, CAF, CONCACAF: "Maybe we can redistribute the qualifying spots, give us some more by taking away some of yours?"
CONMEBOL, UEFA: "ABSOLUTELY NOT!! YOU GO TO HELL! YOU GO TO HELL AND YOU DIE!!"
AFC, CAF, CONCACAF: *sound of mounds of cash swiftly leaving FIFA's coffers*
CONMEBOL, UEFA: "Okay, okay, okay - hold on. Wait. How about we just make the tournament bigger?"
AFC, CAF, CONCACAF: "Can we do that?"
CONMEBOL, UEFA: "Yeah, why the hell not. It'll suck for the game, but who cares, more revenue for us!"
AFC, CAF, CONCACAF: "Okay, so maybe like 2-3 more spots for each of us?"
CONMEBOL, UEFA: "umm...yeah... we were actually thinking we'd get us some of those extra spots, too."
AFC, CAF, CONCACAF: "What? I thought we were doing this to balance out the distributions. That was the problem in the first place, that our representation was unfair. How come you...."
CONMEBOL, UEFA: "OKAY EFF IT, LETS GO TO 48, YEAH EVERYONE WINS (and also we get more spots for us, too) but YOU WIN WIN WIN WIN BRING OUT THE CHAMPAGNE AND DINOSAUR BONE-LACED COCAINE"


Now just imagine this conversation taking place while in the background, people are passing back and forth giant bags of cash, stock notes, Nazi gold, rare paintings, and human organs and that's pretty much how FIFA works.

(later on)
OFC: "... Hey, am I allowed in this meeting?"
Everyone else: "Screw you, OFC. Here, we'll turn your single qualifier spot into an auto bid (because really, we all hate having to play that extra game against you in qualifiers), now go away."

 

Hopefully this will elevate the importance of the Gold Cup in the eyes of both teams. No reason not to send a full squad to both iterations when they're the only meaningful games against your biggest rivals, and your WC qualification group includes Belize and Antigua.

 

I think assuming this is now a cakewalk for the US who will absolutely, positively qualify for every World Cup may not be entirely correct.

The most likely scenario for the new CONCACAF process is that basically what is now the semifinal round will be the final round. 3 groups of 4, top 2 in each group qualify. We've had enough close scrapes in those semifinal rounds in the past where we should in no way assume anything.

Hell, for 2002 we were 30 minutes from elimination in a group of Costa Rica, Guatemala and Barbados. Are you ABSOLUTELY sure we'd finish in the top 2 of a group of say Panama, Jamaica and Canada?