FIFA okays 48-team World Cup
ZURICH. — FIFA’s decision to expand the World Cup to 48 teams in 2026 will allow more countries to “dream” of qualifying for the globe’s top sporting event, FIFA president Gianni Infantino said yesterday.
“We have to shape the World Cup of the 21st Century . . . football is more than Europe and South America,” Infantino told reporters.
With the new format, “many more countries will have the chance to dream.”
But Damian Collins, co-founder of the campaign group for FIFA reform, New FIFA Now, criticised yesterday’s decision to expand the World Cup to 48 teams, saying it was taken for financial and not sporting reasons. The 42-year-old — who is also a lawmaker for the ruling British Conservative Party — said football’s show-piece would be turned from a sporting spectacle into an endurance competition and put extra strain on the players.
“This is not being done for the best of sporting reasons,” he said. “It is being done purely for financial reasons. “It is going to be too long, going to put a strain on the players physical stamina and will not be very interesting in its early stages.”
Collins dismissed the notion, which bodies such as the Scottish Football Association has raised, that it would offer relative minnows the chance to pull off exploits like Iceland and Wales achieved at the expanded Euro 2016.
Iceland knocked out England and Wales reached the semi-finals where they lost to eventual champions Portugal.“It is not going to be what it has been in the past -- an elite competition,” said Collins.
“It was meant to be the final phase after two years of qualifying with the 32 best teams in the world from their respective continents. “Now it will just be an endurance competition.” FIFA’s ruling council yesterday unanimously approved an expansion of the World Cup to 48 teams in 2026, with a format of 16 groups of three nations.“The FIFA Council unanimously decided on a 48-team #WorldCup as of 2026: 16 groups of 3 teams,” a tweet from FIFA’s official account said.
The decision marks a major coup for the body’s president Infantino who has made enlarging football’s showcase event the centrepiece of his young administration.
Infantino has previously suggested FIFA could introduce penalty shoot-outs after group matches that end in a draw in order to stop teams playing for a result that favours them both.
The controversial proposal had faced criticism from some of the sport’s most powerful voices, including warnings that it would dilute the quality of play and overburden already exhausted players.
But Infantino had in recent weeks voiced confidence that his flagship project would be approved.
The FIFA chief has noted that a bigger tournament would beef up FIFA’s coffers.
And a confidential FIFA report seen by AFP projects a 48-team tournament would bring a cash boost of $640 million (605 million euros) above projected revenues for next year’s finals in Russia.
But Infantino has also argued that more World Cup berths would help drive football’s global growth by boosting “inclusion” in the “biggest social and sporting event”.
Among those who seemed convinced by that argument was Argentine football legend Diego Maradona, who on Monday said a 48-team format “will give more possibilities to countries that have never reached that level of competition”.
Africa and Asia could be the big winners in a larger format with a rise in their number of places, currently at 5 and 4.5 respectively.
But in order to smooth over scepticism about World Cup reform within Uefa, it is likely that Europe will also see its allotments rise above the current 13 places.A source close to FIFA said that under the new format Europe could get 16 places, with Africa earning nine.But the information remained unconfirmed and world football’s governing body was not expected to immediately announce its final decision on allotments.
The powerful council officially weighed five proposals during yesterday’s meeting at FIFA’s snow-covered Zurich headquarters, including maintaining the status quo of 32-teams.
The landmark decision to expand the tournament is the latest overhaul of the World Cup, which has seen its global popularity and financial might surge since the inaugural edition in 1930.
That contest, won by Uruguay, had just 13 countries.The World Cup expanded to 24 teams in 1982 in Spain before moving to its current 32-team version at France 1998.
Infantino put World Cup expansion at the top of his agenda when he was installed as president Sepp Blatter’s replacement last year, and a number of proposals were put forward.
Two involved 48-team finals, another two suggested expansion to 40 teams and the final option was to stick with 32 teams.
Critics of Infantino’s preferred plan, which will see the number of matches rise from 64 to 80, included several high-profile clubs and the German Football Federation, which does not currently have a representative on the FIFA council.
And the European Club Association reacted to the FIFA vote with a statement repeating its opposition.
It read: “We fail to see the merits to changing the current format of 32 that has proven to be the perfect formula from all perspectives.
“Questionable also is the urgency in reaching such an important decision, with nine years to go until it becomes applicable, without the proper involvement of stakeholders who will be impacted by this change.
“We understand that this decision has been taken based on political reasons rather than sporting ones and under considerable political pressure, something ECA believes is regrettable.
“ECA will analyse in detail the impact and the consequences of the new format and will address the matter at the next meeting of its Executive Board scheduled for the end of January.”
But supporters including Jose Mourinho have pointed out the maximum number of games any team can play will remain the same at seven, while Infantino insists the format can fit into the current
32-day timeframe. EVOLUTION OF WORLD CUP FINALS FORMAT
1930: The first World Cup final kicked off with 13 teams in Uruguay, including four European nations - Belgium, France, Romania and Yugoslavia.
1934: Expanded to 16 teams for the tournament in Italy, after a qualifying stage for the first time.
1938: Only 15 teams take part in France after Austria, which had just been annexed by Nazi Germany, withdraw.
1950: The World Cup returns after World War II -- the previous two editions having being cancelled -- with 13 teams competing in Brazil.
1954: Hosted by Switzerland the tournament returns to the 16-team format.
1958: In Sweden, format unchanged in a tournament in which Brazilian star Pele wins the first of his three World Cups and France striker Just Fontaine is the top scorer with 13 goals, a record which still stands.
1970: The World Cup in Mexico is one of firsts - introduction of substitutes (two) during a match; red and yellow cards and tournament televised in colour. Format unchanged.
1982: As FIFA looks for new revenues the World Cup in Spain witnessed a small revolution with the passage from 16 to 24 teams and 52 matches played.
1986: This edition in Mexico won by Diego Maradona’s Argentina introduces a knockout round of last 16 and quarter-finals.
1994: Football continues to modernise with 147 participating in qualifiers and Africa gaining a third team in the final in the United States.
1998: The tournament organised in France moves to 32 teams. 174 teams participated in qualifiers.
2002: For the first time the World Cup is jointly hosted by two countries -- Japan and South Korea. Brazil win for a fifth time.
2010: The first World Cup hosted on the African continent. Format unchanged.
2022: To avoid the searing summer heat, the World Cup in Qatar will take place for the first time in winter, from November 21 to December 18 in the Gulf state.
2026: FIFA approved an expansion to 48 teams in the 2026 World Cup, with a format of 16 groups of three nations. — AFP