World Cup 2026

[Merkie84]

The elephant in the room for FIFA is there is literally no format for a 40 or 48 tournament that is better from a footballing/ entertainment point of view than the current 32 team format. 

If FIFA want greater representation from Africa / Asia etc then there should be less automatic places for each confederation and more intercontinental playoffs. 
 

e.g / 2nd placed teams in European groups playing off against sides from Africa and/ or Asia. 
 

Current African qualifying seems brutal, with recent African champions failing to get to the World Cup. Teams like Egypt, Ivory Coast and Nigeria would fancy their chances against the likes of Serbia, North Macedonia or Scotland. 
 

Would make for interesting fixtures if played as home / away 2 legged playoff. 

Edited December 20, 2022 by Merkie84
Spelling

[HalfCutNinja]

2 minutes ago, Merkie84 said:

The elephant in the room for FIFA is there is literally no format for a 40 or 48 tournament that is better from a footballing/ entertainment point of view than the current 32 team format. 

If FIFA want greater representation from Africa / Asia etc then there should be less automatic places for each confederation and more intercontinental playoffs. 
 

e.g / nd laced teams in European groups playing off against sides from Africa and/ or Asia. 
 

Current African qualifying seems brutal, with recent African champions failing to get to the World Cup. Teams like Egypt, Ivory Coast and Nigeria would fancy their chances against the likes of Serbia, North Macedonia or Scotland. 
 

Would make for interesting fixtures if played as home / away 2 legged playoff. 

A 64 team tournament is the obvious solution. I've always advocated 64 team WC and 32 team Euros. People will disagree but I think that's best.

And for Scottish football an 18 team top flight with a 24 team second tier is best.

[DA Baracus]

[Lex]

On 20/12/2022 at 12:08, Merkie84 said:

The elephant in the room for FIFA is there is literally no format for a 40 or 48 tournament that is better from a footballing/ entertainment point of view than the current 32 team format. 

If FIFA want greater representation from Africa / Asia etc then there should be less automatic places for each confederation and more intercontinental playoffs. 
 

e.g / 2nd placed teams in European groups playing off against sides from Africa and/ or Asia. 
 

Current African qualifying seems brutal, with recent African champions failing to get to the World Cup. Teams like Egypt, Ivory Coast and Nigeria would fancy their chances against the likes of Serbia, North Macedonia or Scotland. 
 

 

Also, the current European Champions Italy never qualified for the 2018 or 2022 World Cup. Do agree with your point though about more intercontinental playoffs being the answer to the representation problem. I'd fancy a lot of the UEFA chuff that made it to this World Cup (Wales, Denmark, Serbia etc) wouldn't have got through a two legged playoff against Egypt for example. And stick to 32 or go the full hog to 64, these middling 40 something compromises do not work. 

[Donathan]

I know the FIFA world rankings are flawed, but as an objective measure of how many places each confederation "should" have:

 

32 team world cup (48 in brackets)

 

World ranking:

AFC 3 (4)

CAF 4 (9)

CONCACAF 3 (4)

CONMEBOL 6 (8)

OFC 0 (0)

UEFA 16 (23)

 

Actual:

AFC 5.5 (8.33)

CAF 5 (9.33)

CONCACAF 3.5 (6.67)

CONMEBOL 4.5 (6.33)

OFC 0.5 (1.33)

UEFA 13 (16)

 

Africa are roughly fairly represented under both formats, but Asia and CONCACAF are getting far too many teams under the new format. Europe and South America underrepresented.

 

New Zealand, UAE, Panama, Iraq and Jamaica are likely to be in the next world cup. Norway, Hungary, Czech Republic, Scotland and Paraguay are not. The latter cohort are significantly better than the former.

[BFTD]

2 hours ago, Donathan said:

I know the FIFA world rankings are flawed, but as an objective measure of how many places each confederation "should" have:

 

32 team world cup (48 in brackets)

 

World ranking:

AFC 3 (4)

CAF 4 (9)

CONCACAF 3 (4)

CONMEBOL 6 (8)

OFC 0 (0)

UEFA 16 (23)

 

Actual:

AFC 5.5 (8.33)

CAF 5 (9.33)

CONCACAF 3.5 (6.67)

CONMEBOL 4.5 (6.33)

OFC 0.5 (1.33)

UEFA 13 (16)

 

Africa are roughly fairly represented under both formats, but Asia and CONCACAF are getting far too many teams under the new format. Europe and South America underrepresented.

 

New Zealand, UAE, Panama, Iraq and Jamaica are likely to be in the next world cup. Norway, Hungary, Czech Republic, Scotland and Paraguay are not. The latter cohort are significantly better than the former.

The only way that's happening is if UEFA (and possibly CONMEBOL) manage to wangle an Old Firm style change in FIFA's voting system.

Personally speaking, I'm happy having a few more exotic weaker sides around to occasionally embarrass the traditional powers on their way to inevitable victory, as opposed to more of the mediocre Euro nations we see regularly, but I'm aware that some folk don't think the World Cup's worth watching until only the strongest sides are left. Dunno why they don't just tune in after the group stage though.

[Fuctifano]

There will be a temperature issue at a few of the locations as well, the picture below is from a Miami Dolphins game (the Vikings sideline was in the sun and Dolphins in the shade) this October so christ knows what it'll be like in June/ July , even if it'll be an evening kick off unlike the NFL game which was mid-afternoon. Would guess the Mexican stadia and LA would have similar issue.

I think only 4 of the stadia (Dallas, Atlanta, Houston, and Vancouver) have roofs, and not aware of any of the outdoor ones having any sort of cooling- the oens in America have been built for a winter sport.

 

[BFTD]

I once set out to walk six miles on a 120°F day, as that's not a big deal here, even if it's a particularly hot summer. I gave myself heatstroke, collapsed less than two miles in, and was in bed for days with horrific headaches.

I know athletes are infinitely better conditioned to high-impact exercise, but I can't imagine how they can cope with that. Temperatures that high feel like being in an oven.

[Donathan]

I was listening to a podcast today which mentioned that with climate change, even countries like Spain and Italy may not be able to host world cups in the summer anymore before long.

 

I suspect that the recent World Cup wont be the last one played outside the traditional slot. I suppose as long as the host is determined far enough in advance, the calendar can be arranged around the local climate. 

[Pie Of The Month]

11 hours ago, Fuctifano said:

There will be a temperature issue at a few of the locations as well, the picture below is from a Miami Dolphins game (the Vikings sideline was in the sun and Dolphins in the shade) this October so christ knows what it'll be like in June/ July , even if it'll be an evening kick off unlike the NFL game which was mid-afternoon. Would guess the Mexican stadia and LA would have similar issue.

I think only 4 of the stadia (Dallas, Atlanta, Houston, and Vancouver) have roofs, and not aware of any of the outdoor ones having any sort of cooling- the oens in America have been built for a winter sport.

 

 

Seems like that's just an ideal opportunity for FIFA to punt tickets on the shaded side for twice the price.

 

I went to the Copa America Centanario back in 2016 and it was even ridiculously hot for playing football in Chicago never mind places like Miami.

[Highland Capital]

Ukraine are out of the Spain/Portugal 2030 and Morocco are in.

[Donathan]

2 minutes ago, Highland Capital said:

Ukraine are out of the Spain/Portugal 2030 and Morocco are in.

A much more sensible idea.

 

Ukraine would make more sense to bid jointly with Germany and Poland. 

[BFTD]

6 minutes ago, Highland Capital said:

Ukraine are out of the Spain/Portugal 2030 and Morocco are in.

Well, that's that bid up a sheuch.

Presumably Morocco spilled FIFA's pint at some point since WWII.

[Donathan]

Three bids confirmed 

 

Spain-Portugal-Morocco

 

Saudi Arabia-Egypt-Greece

 

Argentina-Uruguay-Paraguay-Chile

 

 

My preference would be for the South American bid. I think the World Cup should celebrate its centenary by going back to where it all began. 
 

The Iberian peninsula deserve their day and I think they’d be a great candidate for 2034 by which time I European World Cup will be long overdue.

 

The other bid is sportswashing garbage and should be filed in the bin. 

[Highland Capital]

Surely it's long overdue that the Netherlands hosts it, probably co-hosting with Belgium.

[Marten]

3 hours ago, Highland Capital said:

Surely it's long overdue that the Netherlands hosts it, probably co-hosting with Belgium.

Nah, we failed in our bid for 2018 as we're not corrupt enough.  

[BFTD]

OK, so with the opportunity to return the tournament to the original hosts exactly 100 years after the inaugural tournament, get your bets on FIFA awarding them the tournament after, having overlooked them for ungodly riches the chance to bring the World Cup to a new market of enthusiastic, previously-ignored fans yadda yadda yadda.

And, again, Morocco are still on the naughty step for shagging Jules Rimet's maw, so they're getting hee-haw.

Edit: not sure if I mentioned the word tournament enough there.

Edited March 10, 2023 by BFTD

[Donathan]

The Athletic’s David Ornstein confirms that FIFA are abandoning the 16 groups of 3 format for 2026.

 

Instead it will effectively be the same format as the euros. 12 groups of 4 with the top two from each group advancing along with the best 8 third place teams into a newly formed round of 32.

 

Look for push back from the clubs as teams can now play 8 games rather than 7. I would imagine FIFA might react by increasing squads to 29-30 and allowing 11 substitutions. 

[cyderspaceman]

On 21/12/2022 at 21:41, Fuctifano said:

There will be a temperature issue at a few of the locations as well, the picture below is from a Miami Dolphins game (the Vikings sideline was in the sun and Dolphins in the shade) this October so christ knows what it'll be like in June/ July , even if it'll be an evening kick off unlike the NFL game which was mid-afternoon. Would guess the Mexican stadia and LA would have similar issue.

I think only 4 of the stadia (Dallas, Atlanta, Houston, and Vancouver) have roofs, and not aware of any of the outdoor ones having any sort of cooling- the oens in America have been built for a winter sport.

 

A thermometer placed in sunlight gives a meaningless reading. Even a Scottish summer day would give a nonsense reading if the thermo was in full sun. It's the temperature in the shade that counts.

[Highland Capital]

If there's going to be 20-odd more games, would that mean they could add a couple more venues?  If so I'd like to see Denver and Edmonton added.