In the 2026 World Cup, there will be 48 teams. FIFA confirmed that there would be 16 groups of 3. In April 2022 however, CONCACAF President Victor Montagliani commented that FIFA was still considering 12 groups of 4. So which would be better in your opinion? Personally think that 12 groups of 4 with a ro32 is the best.
Would be best if they just left it as it is. Of those options though I'd say 12 groups of 4 and ro32.
All shite. 48 teams are way too much, ffs Fifa! Anyway, from the above I've voted for 12 groups of 4 , ro 32. Even if this means an additional match (so it would be 8 to become World Champion).
to me group of 3 seems more fair, we saw this World cup where teams like Spain, Brazil and Portugal played way weaker sides in last game which allows other teams a easier opponent then the ones the other 2 faced with 3 team groups (and 2 matches) you are not gonna be resting anyone so everyone plays against same opponents
I voted for 12 groups of 4 and round of 32, it will end up a bigger version of the current Euro's format. For me it makes the group stages less exciting, several groups having 3 teams to go through means draws are not a bad result. 3 teams in a group are a terrible, terrible idea. We all know the current format works perfectly and need not be affected. Once again its about money being disguised as inclusion.
16 groups of 3 with only group winners going through Many positives. - players play less games (how many of us moan about players playing too much?) - more the merrier, it's a better 'celebration' of the game having 48 nations involved - decreased chance of 'rotation' which massively affects the integrity of the competition in my opinion - it's the same number of matches overall in the tournament Negatives? Maybe really defensive group matches as the margin for error is smaller.
I think they could justify an additional 40 teams, as we can see improvement from traditional 'minnows', as every recent World Cup seems to have some big teams failing. 40 would increase the games by 1 (5 per group), but most of us wouldn't complain about an extra week of games.
So no plans for two group stages like they used to? Just 1 group stage and then knockouts with only 3 in a group? I'm really getting confused here.
I agree with just leave it as it is. The group stages are going to be largely ignored, but annoyingly FIFA will still get the viewership they want for sponsorship money because of the extra countries being involved that normally aren't. Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk
Something that I’ve seen suggested elsewhere: 12 groups of 4, the top 2 in each group progress = 24 but give the best 8 group winners a bye into the R16, the remaining 16 go into a ‘playoff’ round. Admittedly it’s not perfect as presumably you’d have to work out how to fairly seed the ‘playoff’ knockout for those without a bye and those with a bye would have a sizeable advantage when it comes to rest days. There would be a much clearer incentive however to win each group game & top the group. That at least stands in contrast to the systems with third place qualifiers where the margin for error in the groups is bigger as you can realistically qualify for the knockouts with maybe only 3 points, and almost guarantee it with 4. Much easier if they stuck to 32 teams but that bridge has been crossed now sadly.
Have the whole world in the final tournament. Be fun watching Brazil taking on Guam. Leave it as it is.