After the curtain fell on Sunday’s World Cup in Qatar, with Argentina crowning for the third time in their history, following an exciting final decided on penalties at the expense of France, football fans are eagerly awaiting between now and 2026 World Cup, which will be organized for the first time by 3 countries, which should be a milestone in the history of football, for many reasons.
The 2026 World Cup, which will be held between the United States, Mexico and Canada, will see the participation of 48 teams for the first time, an increase compared to the last editions which saw the participation of 32 teams (starting from the 1998 World Cup, French Cup) FIFA decided to hold the group stage by dividing the teams into 16 groups, each with 3 teams.
The next World Cup will be held in another unprecedented number of 16 stadiums, including 11 in the United States, 3 in Mexico and two in Canada.
The increase in matches and teams means an almost guaranteed record in terms of crowd attendance, recalling that the largest crowd attendance was at the 1994 tournament hosted by the US with 24 teams participating, and reached more than 3 .5 million spectators at the stadium .
This number was achieved thanks to the large capacity of American stadiums, as well as the great interest in the dissemination of sport in them at that time.
And while the 2022 Qatar World Cup saw the most goals recorded in World Cup history, i.e. 172 goals, a one-goal increase on France’s 1998 and Brazil’s 2014 versions, it remains almost certain that that number will be broken in view of the sharp increase in the number of matches, knowing that the developments of other laws Adopted by “FIFA” in recent years, has led to an abundance of goals, due to the use of video assistant technology, and l ‘adjustment of offside counts and flicks.
On an individual level, there remain two very “potential” records that Qatar’s World Cup stars Argentine Lionel Messi and Frenchman Kylian Mbappe can achieve.
Messi finally realized his dream of winning the World Cup in his fifth participation, but the day after the coronation, the son of the city of Rosario pledged to continue playing with the Tango team until further notice.
The continuation of Messi, 35, and his participation in the next World Cup means that he will be the first player in history to participate in 6 World Cups, which is an “extraordinary” achievement, but it does not seem impossible.
Though Messi has previously said the current World Cup could ‘probably’ be his last, the temptation of a new milestone could push the talented star to stick around until the 2026 edition.
As for Mbappé, who is still in his prime (23 years old), the door to records seems wide open, and the Paris Saint-Germain star scored 12 goals at the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, and scored more 5 in the next edition, which seems entirely within the reach of the talented champion, intends his only title of historic World Cup scorer with 17 goals, recalling that the current record is held by the German Miroslav Klose, which is 16 goals, the last of which was scored in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
