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

For teams who know they won't advance, it can be a big deal to say they got a point in the World Cup rather than 3 losses. T&T was the second Caribbean team to get a win or draw against a UEFA team in a World Cup.
In 1938 (68 years before T&T), Cuba played a 3-3 draw with Romania after extra time and won a replay 2-1. In that World Cup, there was a Round of 16 with no Group Stage. The Round of 16 had 15 teams because Austria withdrew after being annexed by Germany. In between 1938 and 2006, Haiti lost every game in 1974, and Jamaica beat Japan and lost to Croatia and Argentina in 1998.

 

In my opinion, 48 teams in 2026 is not much.
It would be more reasonable to expand 64 teams.
There will be Final 32, Final 16, Quarter-Final, Semi-Final, Final.

 

Are they going away?

 

They are not really going away just will be at a neutral site as a tournament instead of home-away aggregate.

 

Diego Maradona's return to the Argentine NT after three years' absence against Australia.

 

Speaking of the Intercontinental playoffs, the 2022 cycle version will have a different dynamic than previous ones.

Regional Qualifying will end November of 2021. The IC Playoffs are scheduled for March of 2022.

Teams will have much more time to prepare and scout their opponents which could makes things more interesting on the field.

It could also be an advantage for teams that are mostly comprised of domestic players not playing on foreign soil.
I can see teams like El Salvador , Panama, China, Saudi Arabia, etc, Taking players to train and practice in the cities they are expected to play in and acclimate to the climate/weather and get comfortable with their surroundings.
Teams with less domestic based players would have to wait until the actual FIFA dates to train there as a unit..

 

Fifa's greed is ruining the best sporting event in the world.

48 teams is far too soon.

 

You cannot stop the inevitable.
Might as well pull off the band-aid quickly and get it over with.

 

the same as not all 16 team world cups were better than the 24 team wcs and the 24 team wcs weren't better than the ones with 32 teams this wont detoriate the quality either.

btw. hermann neuberger was opposing 24 teams in 74 and 78 for the same reason... too early. without him, george best, alberto spencer and many others would have played in a world cup.

 

Yes.
People are going a bit overboard with the whole World Cup is going to be horrible after expansion notion.

As I have emphasized in many posts around here I think there will be some boring aspects, some exciting aspects and some shocking/controversial aspects just like any other format.

And having an extra round of knockout do-or-die matches should be a lot of fun.

 

problem are not 48 teams, the real problem is mode with 16 groups of three .... be ready for many gijóns
also some teams going home before the others played their first match isn‘t smart either

this was probably the most idiotic decision in history of FIFA and death of world cup as we know it, on the top of having two worst hosts ever in a row! infantino the greedy godfather of football will go into history as its grim reaper as well!

 

Correct, 2022 will remain at 32 teams. I'm glad sanity prevailed on this one. One more cycle of the traditional qualifying format

 

WOOHOO!

Still wouldn't be caught dead going to Qatar, but at least the product will make for great television!

 

it's good... we get one last World Cup in the classic 32-team format. Also we get the "compact" World Cup that was promised before.. I'm looking forward to being able to attend a game in the morning, then take the metro and attend another in the afternoon....

 

Doubt there would be any morning matches since that would work against the European TV market. Plus its just not common practice to have kickoffs before 12 noon.

 

Well, it will deteriorate the quality. Its just a fact that the 8th best team in AFC isn't as good as the 4th.

But in any case, my (and most others) issue with the 48 team WC is the awful format that comes with it.

 

Well, at least we get one more relatively pure tournament, even though said tournament will be played in December...

 

Qatar is dull but Bahrain and the Emirates are easy to reach and a lot more happening.

 

No band-aids here

Ideally, it should have always been a 32 team tournament, since the very first one in 1930. That said, Spencer and Best would most likely not have played a WC even with an expanded format.

 

Happening like Las Vegas is "happening"? Pretty low bar we're setting....