FIFA World Cup '26: News & Analysis

Discussion in 'FIFA and Tournaments' started by Nico Limmat, Jun 27, 2018.

  1. LordofBrewtown

    Wigan Athletic
    United States
    Nov 19, 2018
    If you're going to have a 24 team knockout, why not just stick with 12 groups of 4, with the 8 best group winners getting a bye in the knockout? The groups of 4 work pretty well right now, and the potential of a bye would further compel teams who may have won the fist 2 games to try in their final group game. I think that's about the best you can do as far as reducing 'dead' matches.


    I agree that your 3 vs 3 format is a decent option if they do go groups of 6 - but, either way, the 24 team knockout round seems to me to be the key to making a 48 team tournament work successfully.
     
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  2. MNNumbers

    MNNumbers Member

    Jul 10, 2014
    I had never thought about byes in the knockout phase. I suspect there would some serious pushback on that from some of the Confeds, but let's count games:
    Group play: 6*12 = 72. Knockout: 23...Total of 95 games.
    3 team groups.....3*16 + 31 = 79.

    Now, scheduling....if 3 groups play every day, then it takes 12 days for the group play. The extra round, compared to this year, adds 8 games over 4 days, so it's altogether 4 days longer than present.

    Can FIFA live with that?
     
  3. ThreeApples

    ThreeApples Member+

    Jul 28, 1999
    Smurf Village
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    With the huge geography of this tournament, they could reduce travel somewhat by putting each 24 in half of the venues
     
  4. code1390

    code1390 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Nov 25, 2007
    Club:
    Tottenham Hotspur FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    It would be a change but there have been a number of them throughout the history of the World Cup. Also the UEFA Champions League would be doing a fairly similar 24 team knockout stage by then with the top eight sides effectively getting a bye. So it's not like the football world would be completely blindsided by such a format.
     
  5. Iranian Monitor

    Iranian Monitor Member+

    Aug 18, 2004
    Nat'l Team:
    Iran
    I'm reading that FIFA has reportedly announced the format, venue and allocations for 2026:
    Allocations:
    3 hosts plus 16 UEFA, 9 CAF, 8 AFC, 6 CONMEBOL, 6 CONCACAF, 1 OFC, 2 PO (AFC, CAF, CONCACAF)
    Format:
    16 groups with 3 teams
     
  6. code1390

    code1390 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Nov 25, 2007
    Club:
    Tottenham Hotspur FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    The allocation has been long known. FIFA is starting to show signs of wanting to change the 16 groups of three. My guess is they eventually will.

    It'll mean 102 games though for the tournament and I'm curious to see how the schedule would work out.
     
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  7. uuaww

    uuaww Member+

    Nov 21, 2007
    New Orleans, LA
    Club:
    Aston Villa FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    6 games a day, either they have concurrent games at all stages or they stagger them which would not be hard as the US has 4 times zones at play. Noon, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 start times eastern time zone. If you put those start times at 10 start times on the west coast it means a 7 kick off which is fine.

    Extends the tournament 3-4 days max for the added knockout round.
     
  8. Itiofele

    Itiofele Member

    Sporting Cristal
    Peru
    Jan 1, 2018
    Lima, Peru
    Nat'l Team:
    France
    Actually, the 3 hosts are part of CONCACAF's allocation, i.e., of the 6 teams from CONCACAF, 3 will be the hosts and the other 3 will come from qualification.

    Also, the playoffs will be disputed between 6 teams: 1 each from all confederations except UEFA, plus 1 more team from the host confederation (in 2026, CONCACAF, i.e., CONCACAF will have 2 teams in those playoffs).
     
  9. NaBUru38

    NaBUru38 Member+

    Mar 8, 2016
    Las Canteras, Uruguay
    Club:
    Club Nacional de Football
    I oppose having 12 groups, since the top 12 teams would be split in different groups, and the top 24 teams would play just 12 matches between them (instead of 16 with my format).
     
  10. NaBUru38

    NaBUru38 Member+

    Mar 8, 2016
    Las Canteras, Uruguay
    Club:
    Club Nacional de Football
    I'd love to have four continental teams: Rest of Europe, Rest of America, Rest of Africa, and Rest of Asia-Oceania.
     
  11. Felix Herve Caroll

    Jun 1, 2015
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    Ivory Coast
    1603341957027307522 is not a valid tweet id


    Each competition is becoming a contest to see what're the most negative issues for each country.
     
  12. Campbell95

    Campbell95 Member

    May 26, 2012
    I’d like to direct him to Tyler Adams. To use one of his words, what an extraordinarily stupid thing to say.
     
  13. ceezmad

    ceezmad Member+

    Mar 4, 2010
    Chicago
    Club:
    Chicago Red Stars
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
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  14. Felix Herve Caroll

    Jun 1, 2015
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    Ivory Coast
    Happy New Year guys !!!

    FIFA is expected to reveal the format definitely, the opening game and final venues.
    I already resgistered for tickets.

    I feel some Twitter users will activitaly call for a boycott because of some issues concerning the human rights, the environment, the word "soccer" and the large distances.

    Their slogan is "Blame America all the way".
     
  15. BocaFan

    BocaFan Member+

    Aug 18, 2003
    Queens, NY
    I think your sarcasm meter is out on holidays. ;)

    Look at the context of the quote. He was talking about how corrupt the Qatar bid was, and how Linekar himself was accused as being very racist by pointing-out these issues.

    So, a lot of finger-pointing going on but it seems Linekar is poking fun at those in the Qatar camp (i.e. basically just Qatar and FIFA) who labels anyone who criticizes Qatar as "very racist".
     
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  16. Gibraldo

    Gibraldo Member+

    radnicki nis
    Serbia
    Nov 17, 2005
    Club:
    FK Crvena Zvezda Beograd
    what clearly speaks against 12x4 with round-of-32 with 8 3rd placed teams advancing is that is seems impossible to me to keep travelling low.

    The same goves wit 2x24 team and 4 3rd-placed in each half.

    If that world cup would be held in Qatar that would be different, as the distances were that short, but with a WC spread over the whole North America, I cannot see that working.

    As mentioned, teams playing in Seattle the last group match would have to play a round-of-32 in Mexico City 3 days later.

    With the proposal I made for the round-of-24 (Wild Card), it would be possible to form regional clusters, as I proposed to have clusters of always 3 groups (ABC, DEF, GHI, JKL).

    So imagine:

    ABC = Boston, Kansas City, New York, Toronto
    DEF = Atlanta, Houston, Miami, Philadelphia
    GHI = Dallas, Guadalajara, Mexico Ctiy, Monterrey
    JKL = Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Vancouver

    So, all group matches of A, B and C will be staged at only 4 venues, + 2 extra venues on the last group day as all six matches shall be held in parallel.

    The 2 ABC wild card matches of the round-of-24 could be played at Toronto + Kansas City
    The 2 round-of-16 matches featuring ABC teams can be played at New York + Boston.

    So the winners of these need only travel beyond their cluster from the quarter final on.

    In the brackets overview, you can follow my agrumentation, that any team might stay in its cluster until they reach quarter final.
     

    Attached Files:

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  17. BocaFan

    BocaFan Member+

    Aug 18, 2003
    Queens, NY
    Just curious why you have KC in the same cluster as Boston, Philly grouped with southern cities, and why separate Dallas from Houston? Wouldn't it save on travel if we have something like:

    ABC = Boston, Philadelphia, New York, Toronto
    DEF = Houston, Dallas, Kansas City, Monterrey
    GHI = Atlanta, Guadalajara, Mexico City, Miami
    JKL = Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Vancouver
     
  18. Gibraldo

    Gibraldo Member+

    radnicki nis
    Serbia
    Nov 17, 2005
    Club:
    FK Crvena Zvezda Beograd
    Well, there are various options, but I thought to have not one cluster with no travel (ABC) and all other with some amount of travel. By that allocations, the area of travel is quite equal.

    Also I thought, FIFA might like to avoid Texas hosting only one cluster and therefore at max 12 teams instead of the option of 24 team when hosting 2 clusters.

    and i need to mention, that some teams must travel for the last matchday, if 3 groups won't to all have their matches in parallel. You need 6 venues for that, so 2 extra venues adding to the venues of a cluster.
     
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  19. BocaFan

    BocaFan Member+

    Aug 18, 2003
    Queens, NY
    Ah, ok. I was confused about the need for 2 extra venues, but that clarifies it. Although I don't think there is a chance that FIFA will schedule six matches at the same time (nor would I want that as a fan).
     
  20. HomietheClown

    HomietheClown Member+

    Dusselheim FC 1971
    Sep 4, 2010
    Club:
    --other--
    The only way I would want six games at the same time is if FOX/Telemundo have an NFL Redzone/ CBS Sports Golazo type show that takes you to all the big moments of matches and scoring opportunities live/semi-live.
     
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  21. BocaFan

    BocaFan Member+

    Aug 18, 2003
    Queens, NY
    I guess it would depend on the country you are in and if you are home or not. But for those attending the WC live and therefore either watching at the stadium, at a FIFA fanzone or at a bar/hotel realistically they could only watch 1 out of six. Or max 2. I can't see a fanzone or too many bars showing all 6 matches plus a "Redzone"-type show at the same time.

    Anyway, six matches at once seems a bit unnecessary. We haven't seen anything similar happen in 24-team tournaments that I am aware of, so I doubt they would start now, especially given it would have a negative impact on TV ratings.
     
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  22. Felix Herve Caroll

    Jun 1, 2015
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    Ivory Coast
    Once again an opposition to the 2026 FIFA World Cup to be held in Canada, Mexico and USA



    They should've opposed during the bid. Now it's too late.
     
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  23. Paul Calixte

    Paul Calixte Moderator
    Staff Member

    Orlando City SC
    Apr 30, 2009
    Miami, FL
    Club:
    Orlando City SC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
  24. Felix Herve Caroll

    Jun 1, 2015
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    Ivory Coast
    I feel some smear campaign on the social media, especially on Twitter.
    The objective is to try to make FIFA reconsider the host of the 2026 FIFA World Cup because of social, political and geopolitical issues for Mexico and the USA. For each bad news, they want FIFA to act.
    Many Twitter users already began.
    For the 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, they'd find a great opportunity to trash some people.
     
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  25. BocaFan

    BocaFan Member+

    Aug 18, 2003
    Queens, NY
    hmm... interesting. Of course, one of the big problems with groups of 3 won't be exposed in the Nations Cup. Which is that each team has to take turns twiddling their thumbs for 8-10 days while the other 2 teams in their group meet.

    So, the Nations Cup format is more reminiscent of the UEFA Nations League at its beginning, when the third team would still be playing football while the other two teams in their group are playing each other (it would just be for a different competition).
     
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