FIFA World Cup

FIFA World Cup trophy. Photo by Yuki IWAMURA / AFP

FIFA puts controversial World Cup plan in the bin

FIFA has decided to keep at least one well-known factor about a World Cup in check for the 2026 edition in North America.

FIFA World Cup

FIFA World Cup trophy. Photo by Yuki IWAMURA / AFP

FIFA has decided to keep at least one well-known factor about a World Cup in check for the 2026 edition in North America.

The governing body officially gave the green light to expand the event from 32 teams to 48.

FIFA, though, scrapped the controversial World Cup plan to have groups of three. It will now remain four teams in a group but with more than two sides advancing.

FIFA’s new plan

There will be 12 games of four instead of the proposed 16 groups of three that was rejected at the last minute. The proposed plan for the North American World Cup was to have 80 matches but this has been increased to 104.

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The 2026 edition will also have the eight best third-placed teams moving into the knockout round of 32.

“The Fifa Council unanimously approved the proposed amendment to the Fifa World Cup 2026 competition format” Fifa said in a statement.

“The revised format mitigates the risk of collusion and ensures that all the teams play a minimum of three matches, while providing balanced rest time between competing teams.”

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The 2022 World Cup in Qatar had 32 teams and a total of 64 matches completed in 29 days.

The last time Mexico (1986) and the United States (1994) hosted a World Cup, there were 24 teams.

If you want to win the World Cup in 2026, you will now play eight matches in total and not seven.

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Fifa boss Gianni Infantino
FIFA doing it all for the votes. Image from Twitter/@garyalsmith

World Cup 2026 plans

It will be a few years still until the qualifications for the FIFA World Cup 2026 are finalised but the regions have each been allotted their slots.

  • Asia will have eight direct spots and an inter-confederation play-off place
  • Africa will have nine direct spots and an inter-confederation play-off place
  • North and Central America and the Caribbean will have six direct spots (three of which will be taken by the host nations) and two inter-confederation play-off places
  • South America will have six direct spots and an inter-confederation play-off place
  • Oceania will have one of each spot
  • Europe will have 16 direct spots

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