World Cup officially expands to 48 teams

Mar 1, 2002
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http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/38565246

The World Cup will be expanded to host 48 teams, up from 32, Fifa has decided.

An initial stage of 16 groups of three teams will precede a knockout stage for the remaining 32 when the change is made for the 2026 tournament.

The sport's world governing body voted unanimously in favour of the change at a meeting in Zurich on Tuesday.

The number of tournament matches will rise to 80, from 64, but the eventual winners will still play only seven games.
 

HajdukSplit

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Nov 9, 2005
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NJ
is it already decided where the new teams would come from (i.e. continental division)?

Not yet but the speculation is Asia/Africa, the two biggest voting blocs btw, will benefit the most doubling their spots

The rumored allocation is:

Hosts
UEFA: 16
CAF: 9
AFC: 8.5 :laugh:
CONMEBOL: 6
CONCACAF: 6.5 :laugh:
OFC: 1

CONMEBOL are also trying to merge with CONCACAF for these qualifiers, doubt that happens though as they need to realize CONCACAF is more than just USA/MEX + Central America, the Caribbean nations would never vote for something like that
 

Corto

Faceless Man
Sep 28, 2005
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Politics, politics, politics.

Money, Money, Money

Yeah, it's money alright.

I can't imagine the group phase is going to be exciting - apart from maybe groups where you get a good team and two weak ones, I'm sure we'll have a couple of those.

Other than that, I can't imagine how a group of say Germany, Uruguay and Iran is going to be interesting - except maybe to determine how the first two teams are seeded for the next round.

2 out of 3 teams going through will likely mean a bunch of boring, "safe" games like in 2016 EURO, where 3 out of 4 teams were going through (well in 4 groups) and everyone and their mom played boring football.
 

Just Win

Registered User
Nov 3, 2008
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Stuttgart
More boring games where teams will try to play it safe. Also lots and lots of empty seats for a lot of those group games unless a big nation is involved. But who cares about atomsphere and quality of play when you can make more money and secure more votes as FIFA president.

Something tells me FIFA will wonder soon why the TV ratings will go down and why nobody wants to buy tickets for games between two nations that shouldn't be in a WC in the first place. This also probably means even more low quality refs from all around the globe.
 

Corto

Faceless Man
Sep 28, 2005
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Braavos
This also probably means even more low quality refs from all around the globe.

That's a good point.

With the amount of diving and faking injuries going on in todays game, I only really feel confident with a handful of referees to ref a big game in a good way.
 

Bon Esprit

Registered User
Jan 24, 2004
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Even today you can spare most of the matches in the group stage.
So in the future matches from the 1/4 finals on are worth watching. Well done, FIFA.:handclap:

And I won't be watching this goddamn WC in Qatar anyway.
 

Just Win

Registered User
Nov 3, 2008
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Stuttgart
This also will make hosting a World Cup even more expensive than it already is. I doubt many nations want to build/upgrade even more stadiums, make more security availabe, build more infrastructure and find and organize more volunteers.
 

Bon Esprit

Registered User
Jan 24, 2004
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This also will make hosting a World Cup even more expensive than it already is. I doubt many nations want to build/upgrade even more stadiums, make more security availabe, build more infrastructure and find and organize more volunteers.

Good point. So no African nation will ever host a WC again. Embarrassing.
 

Maverick41

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Even today you can spare most of the matches in the group stage.
So in the future matches from the 1/4 finals on are worth watching. Well done, FIFA.:handclap:

And I won't be watching this goddamn WC in Qatar anyway.

It won't affect the Qatar World Cup anyway. It's the one after that when this changes take effect, as I understand it.

For me personally it isn't really anything that outrages or even upsets me. Not just beacause it is very likely that I won't be watching anyway.
While I agree with people who say that the competition level might suffer and that the group stage pretty much turns into a joke, and that the motivation for FIFA behind this is almost exclusively monetary in nature, I think the complains from mainly fans of the established football powers are a little too narrow minded and self centered.
Yes, looking at it from a German, Spanish, Italian, French, etc. perspective there is absolutely no upside, but looking at it from the perspective of people from the countries that may now have a real shot at making it to the World Cup, this might look very different.

I don't get why so many people get offended when their national team has to play a team that they will likely blow out, and act like "those people" should not even be allowed anywhere near their team. To me that appears to be elitist and condescending.

There are several legitimate concerns about this expansion and I am also not the biggest fan, but "there will be too many weak teams in the tournament that don't belong there" is not good enough for me.

But then again maybe I would have felt differently a few years ago when I was still a big football fan and not just a casual follower like I am today.
 

Summer Rose

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Wait concacaf is supposed to get more spots than conmebol?

CONMEBOL only has 10 members. That's 60% of them making it in.

CONCACAF has 41. A few of those aren't FIFA members, though, and therefore aren't eligible for the World Cup. For example, Martinique. A player from Martinique is also eligible to play for France, and due to Martinique not being a FIFA member can play for both teams.
 

chasespace

Registered User
Jul 19, 2010
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Gator Nation
And if the rumored merger of CONMEBOL and CONCACAF go through that will be 12 spots right there. I see this leading to a lot of dull games
 

PeteWorrell

[...]
Aug 31, 2006
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I rolled my eyes hard when i read that one of the official reasons was for more "inclusiveness".
 

Bon Esprit

Registered User
Jan 24, 2004
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438
It won't affect the Qatar World Cup anyway. It's the one after that when this changes take effect, as I understand it.

For me personally it isn't really anything that outrages or even upsets me. Not just beacause it is very likely that I won't be watching anyway.
While I agree with people who say that the competition level might suffer and that the group stage pretty much turns into a joke, and that the motivation for FIFA behind this is almost exclusively monetary in nature, I think the complains from mainly fans of the established football powers are a little too narrow minded and self centered.
Yes, looking at it from a German, Spanish, Italian, French, etc. perspective there is absolutely no upside, but looking at it from the perspective of people from the countries that may now have a real shot at making it to the World Cup, this might look very different.

I don't get why so many people get offended when their national team has to play a team that they will likely blow out, and act like "those people" should not even be allowed anywhere near their team. To me that appears to be elitist and condescending.

There are several legitimate concerns about this expansion and I am also not the biggest fan, but "there will be too many weak teams in the tournament that don't belong there" is not good enough for me.

But then again maybe I would have felt differently a few years ago when I was still a big football fan and not just a casual follower like I am today.

Yes, the expansion kicks in after Russia(?) and Qatar. I'll boycott the WC in Qatar for different reasons.
With 48 teams in the tournament there will be matches between Jamaica and Burkia Faso (no offence). Good luck with that.
 

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