Federation Internationale de Football Association votes to expand World Cup to 48 teams

What has happened to the World Cup?

The globe’s biggest sporting event, the football World Cup, was subjected to a major revamp on Tuesday (10 January) as Fifa’s 37-member council unanimously rubber-stamped expansion plans, set to take effect from 2026, at a meeting in Zurich.

Federation Internationale de Football Association unanimously agreed that the tournament will now begin with 16 groups of three teams, in which the top two advancing into a 32-team knock-out stage and with the Scottish and Northern Irish FA already coming out in support, Infantino insisted that the countries which perennially qualify must be more broader-minded.

Currently, eligible teams are organized into four groups of eight that play concurrently in an initial round.

The region was already favored to get its first World Cup since the US -hosted 1994 edition, even before Tuesday’s expansion decision.

There has also been criticism from the likes of New FIFA Now – a campaign group that says the governing body needs to reform – claiming that the new format will “dilute the competitiveness” of the World Cup.

Football’s powerful European Club Association reiterated its strong opposition, describing the current World Cup model as “the ideal formula”. It means that the eventual winners will have to negotiate five must-win matches to lift the trophy.

“A greater eclectic mix of footballing cultures at the FIFA World Cup will create a bigger and better atmosphere than ever before”.

“It would be fantastic if it did come off and we did get automatic entry out of our region”.

“In Germany I hope that with time we can discuss it and they can see the benefit for the world, bearing in mind that in Germany today there are many many players in the Bundesliga from all around the world, and it’s nice for these players as well to maybe have the possibility to participate once in their lifetime in the biggest event in the world”.

“The quality of the competition will obviously lessen”.

“I don’t think it was about the good of the game, I think it was about Infantino strengthening his political position”, added Kerr.

It would mean New Zealand would qualify for the World Cup finals every four years, “cast in stone”.

A 48-team World Cup is all but a guaranteed for the USA and Mexico to qualify.

Tuesday’s landmark decision is the latest overhaul of the World Cup, which has seen its global popularity and financial might surge since the inaugural edition in 1930.

There is a lot about the effects of the 48-team World Cup that is up in the air. From there, the top two countries will progress to a round-of-32 knockout stage, an additional phase from the format that is now in place.

Turner said increasing to 48 would be “sending the wrong signals”. Nations in Oceania can therefore expect to be guaranteed a berth.

Gonzalez had said 45 teams competing for seven slots was not viable but if North and South America were given at least 14 slots like Europe, “the idea would catch on”.

Turner was so delighted when Shane Smeltz fired New Zealand into a 1-0 lead he took a photograph of the scoreboard at Nelspruit. If you follow the trend from 1982 [to 24 teams] to 1998 [to 32], we see that there has been more or less the same percentage of participants from the world. For any country that has never qualified for a World Cup before, from Montenegro to Mongolia to Micronesia, that elusive dream just got a bit closer.