Uefa wants 16 places for 2026 World Cup
>> NYON: Europe will formally ask Fifa for at least 16 places in the expanded 48-team World Cup line-up, Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin said on Thursday.
“We think it’s realistic to ask for 16 slots plus another condition that each European is in a different group,” Ceferin said at a news conference after an executive committee meeting.
Fifa decided last month to add 16 teams to the 2026 tournament. Two teams will advance to a 32-team knockout round from each threenation group.
“I think all 16 can qualify for the second round,” Ceferin said.
Fifa plans to confirm continental entry quotas for the 2026 World Cup at meetings in Bahrain in May.
If Uefa’s requests are accepted by Fifa, it will ensure no all-European matches in the 12-day group stage at the 2026 tournament.
At the 2014 World Cup, the opening round of group games included the Netherlands routing defending champions Spain 5-1, Italy beating England 2-1, and eventual winners Germany beating Portugal 4-0.
Ceferin announced planned reforms for Uefa five months after he was elected to succeed Michel Platini, who was banned by Fifa for a financial conflict of interest.
They i nclude limiting Uefa’s president and executive committee members to a maximum of three fouryear terms.
Future candidates for elected positions should also have active roles at their national federation, Ceferin suggested. Those roles include president, vice-president, general secretary or CEO at one of Uefa’s 55 members.
Uefa also wants to add a commitment to ethical values in its statutory rules, which can be updated at its annual congress on April 5 in Helsinki, Finland.
Under Platini’s leadership, which ended over a US$2 million payment he received from Fifa in 2011, Uefa had no formal ethical objectives.
“Some ethical provisions should be included in the disciplinary code,” Ceferin said.