Francs Jeux – The Formula for Breaking All Records

Change of course at FIFA. Meeting this week in congress in Kigali, Rwanda, the football body lifted the veil on the format of the Men’s World Cup in 2026. It no longer resembles the initial version. The FIFA Council announced on Tuesday March 14 (photo above) that the next world tournament, co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico, would be played for its preliminary phase in twelve pools of four teams. With this formula, the number of meetings will increase to 104 for the whole competition, against 64 at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. The top two from each group, plus the eight best third-place finishers, will advance to the round of 16, a level of the tournament that did not exist in previous editions. Explanation from FIFA: “ The new format notably mitigates the risk of collusion and guarantees a minimum of three games for each team, with a balanced rest period between the competing teams.. “It also has the immense advantage of multiplying the number of meetings, and with it the revenues in marketing, ticketing and television rights. In the initial formula envisaged by the body – 16 pools of three teams, the first two rising to the round of 16 – the 2026 World Cup would have offered a total of 80 matches. Since Tuesday March 14, there are 24 more, so the certainty of a record ticket office. The council of the authority also decided that the final will be disputed on July 19, 2026. The place of the meeting, on the other hand, will be chosen later. As a reminder, the sixteen host cities were unveiled last June. Eleven of them are located in the United States (Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Kansas City, Houston, Philadelphia, Miami, New York), two in Canada (Toronto and Vancouver), and three in Mexico (Guadalajara, Mexico City and Monterrey).