World Cup ” The next World Cup will be huge after a tight edition in time and space in Qatar: see you in 2026 for a World Cup the size of the North American continent, between Canada, the United States and Mexico, with 48 teams for the first time. The 22nd edition just concluded on Sunday, the 23rd already looming in three and a half years in North America and will welcome almost a quarter of the 211 nations affiliated to FIFA, after three decades of World Cups played on 32 selections.
After a first edition with 13 nations in 1930, then 16 until 1978, then 24 until 1994, this new inflation puts into practice the first major reform by FIFA president Gianni Infantino, adopted in 2017 shortly after his advent… It risks posing problems unprecedented in terms of format and logistics, with a total of potentially over 100 games to schedule, instead of the usual 64 games since 1998.
And beautiful walks in perspective, with in particular, between the host cities, Vancouver and Toronto in Canada, Mexico City and Guadalajara in Mexico or Miami, Los Angeles, New York, Dallas, Kansas City in the United States. But in the eyes of the more modest nations, this is the perfect opportunity to invite themselves to the great planetary appointment. “For us Africans, it falls from the sky,” former Nigerian international Sunday Oliseh said last week. “I always thought we should have more representatives. The more we manage to play it, the better our chances will be.
Which option did you choose?
The new distribution by confederation puts Africa and Asia in first place: 9 tickets (against the previous 5) for Africans, 8 (against 4.5) for Asians and one for Oceania (which previously did not was a jump-off). Given the caliber of the African selections eliminated at the gates of the 2022 World Cup (Egypt, Algeria, Nigeria, etc.), the 2026 lineup promises to be particularly attractive. Europe, from 13 to 16 tickets, South America from 4.5 qualified to 6 qualified, and North America, which will qualify the three host nations of the next World Cup, will have a total of 6 teams in 2026 (against 3.5 for today) . Two additional tickets will be awarded through the play-offs.
The question of the format still remains to be defined: initially Fifa provided for 16 groups of three teams, two qualified per group and then the round of 16. This made it possible to keep the same number of matches for each team (7 for the finalists), for a total of 80 matches, but risked an implied deal between two teams during their third group match. On Friday, FIFA president Gianni Infantino confirmed he would revisit this format in the “coming weeks”.
“Here (in Qatar), the groups of four were absolutely fantastic right up to the last minute of every game. We have to reconsider it, at least re-discuss the format, whether it’s 16 groups of three or 12 groups of four… ”she said. If the option of 12 groups of four were chosen, we could potentially reach more than 100 matches… The number of host cities will double, with 16 stadiums in 2026 against eight enclosures in Qatar, and the economic and environmental puzzle of long distances .
more modest nations
And revenues will rise accordingly: FIFA, which draws the vast majority of its resources from the World Cup, has announced it plans a record budget of $11bn (€10.3bn) in its next four-year cycle 2023-2026, against 7.5 billion dollars (7.2 billion euros) on the current cycle with a World Cup with 32 selections. It remains to be seen whether the irruption of more modest nations will affect the level of play.
Sunday Oliseh, a member of FIFA’s Technical Study Group (TSG), doesn’t believe it, citing the example of the World Cup in Qatar where there were many surprises: “I don’t think the quality (of the game) will suffer. It’s the opposite, we saw Saudi Arabia play the first match (2-1 against Argentina) and it was wow! Even the Brazilian Ronaldo, two times world champion (1994 and 2002), says he is “in favor” of this enlargement.” I find this format, which gives the opportunity to other countries to participate in this great celebration, to be honourable,” said the former centre-forward. “It won’t weigh on the technical level of the next editions, it will only increase the number of guests.” ats
