FIFA World Cup 2026

bigy

Well-Known Member
The next World Cup is going to have:
  • 8 teams from Asia (5 in Qatar)
  • 9 teams from Africa (5 in Qatar)
  • 6 teams from North/Central America (4 in Qatar)
  • 6 teams from South America (out of 10 entrants!! 4 in Qatar)
  • 1 team from Oceania (0 in Qatar)
  • 16 teams from Europe (13 in Qatar)
  • 2 play off winners from Africa, Asia, Oceania, South America and two from North / Central America.
A few issues here:
  • potentially 7 out of 10 from South America qualifying. In Qatar only 2 from 4 made it out the group, and Peru lost a play off to Australia in qualification. That’s pretty poor and far too many spots.
  • North / Central America getting 2 more spots plus potentially 2 from the play offs. WTF!!
  • Oceania getting one guaranteed plus a play off - do they have any teams other than New Zealand?
  • Africa / Asia fair enough - 3/6 from Asia made the knock out rounds and Africa has the depth with Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa etc missing out this time.
  • Europe in my opinion should have got at least another couple of spots - or at the very least a couple of play off spots.
 
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Take it the 3 European teams in Qatar is a typo?!

Aren’t they also making it groups of 3? Or have I imagined that?
 
Sorry - 13 in Qatar.

Meant to be 16 groups of 3, but recent talk suggests it could be 12 of 4.
Don’t tell me, there will be a round of 32?

It’s pathetic. 24 teams was optimal for the World Cup, 32 is too many but manageable. 48 is just a clusterfuck.
 
The way things are going Gibraltar will be there. Cannae wait. All 3 games between Vancouver and Seattle would be amazing
 
I think the African nations have all improved massively in my lifetime. The more teams that take part the better they become eventually. Look at Japan and South Korea, both used to be dismissed as too small and slight, now they are beating big European nations. It’s not a coincidence they had a WC not that long ago, and this is the legacy.
Who knows Scotland might get in?
 
The next World Cup is going to have:
  • 8 teams from Asia (5 in Qatar)
  • 9 teams from Africa (5 in Qatar)
  • 6 teams from North/Central America (4 in Qatar)
  • 6 teams from South America (out of 10 entrants!! 4 in Qatar)
  • 1 team from Oceania (0 in Qatar)
  • 16 teams from Europe (13 in Qatar)
  • 2 play off winners from Africa, Asia, Oceania, South America and two from North / Central America.
A few issues here:
  • potentially 7 out of 10 from South America qualifying. In Qatar only 2 from 4 made it out the group, and Peru lost a play off to Australia in qualification. That’s pretty poor and far too many spots.
  • North / Central America getting 2 more spots plus potentially 2 from the play offs. WTF!!
  • Oceania getting one guaranteed plus a play off - do they have any teams other than New Zealand?
  • Africa / Asia fair enough - 3/6 from Asia made the knock out rounds and Africa has the depth with Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa etc missing out this time.
  • Europe in my opinion should have got at least another couple of spots - or at the very least a couple of play off spots.
6 Asian teams in Qatar
Take them and using current FIFA rankings (yes, I know, but its a point of reference)
Add - UAE and China
5 African teams in Qatar
Add - Nigeria, Algeria, Ivory Coast and Congo
4 North/Central America
Add - Panama and Jamaica
4 from South America in Qatar
Add - Peru and Colombia
0 from Oceania
Add - New Zealand
13 from Europe
Add - Italy, Scotland and Sweden (assumes Russia are banned)
Play-off winners
Add - Chile, Mali, El Salvador, Honduras

Those would be the additions, based on 2022 qualifying results/rankings. Other than Italy and local "favorites" Scotland, the rest is cannon fodder.

8 from North/Central America is ludicrous and using the same logic as having Qatar host. 3 hosting, lets bring the next 5 shitty teams.
 
Basically a free pass for New Zealand to qualify for every World Cup from now on. By virtue of beating Solomon Islands & Tahiti. Oceania needs to be remain 0.5 IMO, even in a 48 team tournament.
 
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6 Asian teams in Qatar
Take them and using current FIFA rankings (yes, I know, but its a point of reference)
Add - UAE and China
5 African teams in Qatar
Add - Nigeria, Algeria, Ivory Coast and Congo
4 North/Central America
Add - Panama and Jamaica
4 from South America in Qatar
Add - Peru and Colombia
0 from Oceania
Add - New Zealand
13 from Europe
Add - Italy, Scotland and Sweden (assumes Russia are banned)
Play-off winners
Add - Chile, Mali, El Salvador, Honduras

Those would be the additions, based on 2022 qualifying results/rankings. Other than Italy and local "favorites" Scotland, the rest is cannon fodder.

6 from North/Central America is ludicrous and using the same logic as having Qatar host. 3 hosting, lets bring the next 3 shitty teams.
Scotland would be cannon fodder FFS
 
48 teams, it will be easier to qualify than not qualify. Although Scotland could still manage to miss out.
 
I say this to folk a lot and I could be talking nonsense but I feel as if football makes such a disproportionately high number of fundamental changes to the formats and laws of the game compared to other sports - and rarely for the better.

The World Cup is revered worldwide as it is. This need to change stuff all the time is ridiculous.

46 teams sounds mental.
 
This is not about a competition. This is simply money.
Scandalous.
If they wanted it truly fair it would be world draw. Germany could draw Brazil in a qualifying group for example.
As it stands some teams will always qualify given the zones now. Brazil, Argentina, Australia, Japan, Mexico as the competition is much weaker
 
FIFA's own rankings have 22 European teams in the top 48. By having 16 European teams, they're acknowledging that their format makes it a weaker tournament.
 
16 groups of 3 with the top 2 going through to a last 32 KO round.

That would mean that there will be a team that won't play their 1 st game until the 32nd game of the competition. And be more or less eliminated after that game.

Also, with a three team group, you can't have final games played simultaneously: opens up the possibility of a West Germany vs Austria in 1982 debacle.
 
Groups of 3 takes the excitement out of the initial stages. The last games are great as it is with both game being played at the same time
 
So what group did Australia qualify from this year?

I always thought their qualifying group was Oceania.
 
So what group did Australia qualify from this year?

I always thought their qualifying group was Oceania.
Asia qualifiers they came through.

They managed to get themselves moved iirc to have a better standard of competition playing Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia etc rather than horsing Fiji, cook islands and the like, then facing another side in a playoff as Oceania didn't have an automatic qualifier
 
I think it will be a brilliant World Cup.

Itching to make a road trip of it.
History will show the 2022 WC was the last of the good old fashioned type WCs. And will probably go down as the most open and competitive.

But hey, at least fans in 2026 will be able to travel thousands of miles to games in countries with fantastic human rights records such as the USA and Mexico. And wave colourful flags too.
 
It is presumably going to last for about 6 weeks as well, rather than the usual 4. Or are they going to cram in more games per day?
 
I think the African nations have all improved massively in my lifetime. The more teams that take part the better they become eventually. Look at Japan and South Korea, both used to be dismissed as too small and slight, now they are beating big European nations. It’s not a coincidence they had a WC not that long ago, and this is the legacy.
Who knows Scotland might get in?
Last sentence, hope not!!
We wouldn't be doing well in this one,be home by now.
 
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