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

I dont think you want that.

I mean maybe Uruguay can draw Italy or something but would probably get their arses kicked by all the other Champions right about now.

 

There are 13 South American teams but 3 of them are in CONCACAF.

I'm not sure UEFA would be happy with 10/10 CONMEBOL teams qualifying while less than half qualify from UEFA.

 

There's only 10 South American teams that matter. The others do not.

I am sure UEFA would be unhappy and I am sure CONMEBOL would not want a combined qualifying anyway.

 

We like our chances, for some reason, we always do. And that might be why we belong to that select group, against all odds.

 

It is not 1950 anymore mi amigo.
But I like your spirit.

 

Venezuela matters?

 

Oh yes. A few Cycles back they were very close to qualifying.

With their recent U20 World cup runner up team I think they can look pretty good come 2026.

 

Keep thinking that way. it’s inspirational.

 

There's a reason I split it like I did. To maintain historical rivalries within both Americas Confederations. Even if The Americas did a combined qualification. That would be 45 total teams. Bottom ten could do a play in 2 legged tie to see who gets in. Then in final round you can do 8 groups of 5 for 40 teams. Top 2 in each group advancing to World Cup. Not a guarantee all CONMEBOL teams qualify. I like mine where 7.5 in CONCACAF and 7.5 CONMEBOL qualify. If they both win playoffs against Oceania and AFC which they'd be favored to you still get 16 anyways. Also, if they host they get to 16 or 17 as well.

 

This is too harsh. We got over 1 million people to watch Curacao play Jamaica in the 2017 Gold Cup. That's two islands (one of which is a dutch dependency with not even a half million residents) competing in a C-list (at best) tournament. That game had no business drawing anyone, yet we got to 7 figures.

You're underestimating the pull of the World Cup, especially with a nation India's size appearing in what would be their first WC appearance. That game would draw hundreds of millions of eyes, easily.

 

I watch a lot of World Cup matches I don’t really care about just because there’s nothing else on during the summer except baseball

 

Exactly my point.

 

Completely misses mine

 

Not sure about the qualifying being less taxing. You literally posted proposals for qualifying in each region in your previous post and the format was either the same or more grueling for each region:

CONMEBOL really would have to revert to two groups of 5. It would be absurd to continue with a single table when only 2 teams get eliminated (having 2 groups would reduce the # of dead-rubber matches significantly).

UEFA could use the Nations League to shorten their "normal" qualifying phase. e.g. 11 groups of 5 teams (top 2 qualify) plus league A, B and C winners from Nations League qualify. No need for playoffs.

Agree with putting a limit of 1.5 on OFC. Any more than that would ruin the World Cup.

AFC I think would need to have 3 groups in their final round (or maybe even 4). Two groups of 8 (14 rounds) is too much considering you also have several rounds/matches to play just to reach that final round.

 

It's 2020 and Uruguay have done just fine against former champions in recent WCs (France, Italy, England). Done better than Argentina regionally. Also beat Portugal in the last World Cup if we want to talk about current champions.

 

I think they would lose to every team except for maybe Italy.

He thinks they would have a chance to win the tournament.

I think my way of thinking is closer to the truth.

 

And you forgot some team named Brasil conveniently.

 

Maybe you can elaborate.

My point is that people will watch India play Jamaica in a WC match. The sheer size of the Indian population alone guarantees that - India's first WC is going to be an insanely massive draw within that country and among the diaspora, and that alone is good for hundreds of millions of viewers. The additional fact that many, like you, will tune in to any WC match in the summer (because what else is on?) just bolsters my point, which is that people will watch and the match will have plenty of viewers.

Again, I get the impression that you dispute this and I'm not sure quite how, but perhaps you can elaborate.

 

Damn, so much Uruguay hate.

My point wasn't that they would be favorite. Just that they wouldn't get over-run. Recent results don't point them to being the worst or even second-worst. Been doing better than Argentina for a while now (for instance). And Brasil? Not sure why you bring them up. Pretty close to Uruguay if you compare their last few tournaments side-by-side.

 

I don't think there is any doubt that there will be a lot of viewers in the countries of the 2 teams involved, whatever match we might be talking about. For me that is not a measure of a tournament being better. I would look at exactly the opposite: what is the interest in countries not involved in a particular match?

Anyway, we will see how it plays out. People talk a lot about the India and China effect, while spending less time discussing the impact of having Zambia, Bahrain, Paraguay and Panama qualify. Not saying the latter is a bad thing, just that its the typical nations you will see fill the extra 16 spots. Maybe China will get to play 2 WC games every 12 years or so. India are nowhere close atm so difficult to even guess when they would qualify, but I'd say even before 2050 seems a stretch.

 

I never said they would get over-run.
Just that I do not think they could beat any of the former champions. I would only see them getting a point against Italy and probably lose to everyone else.
That is not hate, just a gut feeling based on observations.

 

There was a wink emoji.

Usually winks do not have to be explained.

 

Yeah, people who don't know about the intricacies of the lower tiers of AFC football like to throw our name around, but we are in fact much worse than even what the casual football fan thinks .

The 2019 Asian Cup where we almost made the Round of 16 was the first time since probably the 1960s that we were remotely competitive even at Asian level. And we've since gone on to tie Afghanistan and Bangladesh in World Cup qualifiers, so that may very well have been a fluke. We are closer to teams like Yemen or the Maldives than we are to even mediocre 2nd-tier Asian sides like Jordan and China, and nobody is talking about Yemen qualifying for a WC any time soon.

On a bit of a side (but related) tangent, I have to say I've completely changed my mind on the whole "countries with bigger populations are destined to footballing success" thing.

 

Who do Indians support in the FIFA World Cup?