There are changes in store for the 2026 World Cup. It’s coming to North America. Thus, it is the first World Cup with three joint hosts.
However, a quick word about the World Cup happened recently. FIFA won. FIFA faced numerous controversies regarding the tournament in Qatar and the politics and history involved. Those problems multiplied as the tournament approached. Same-sex relationships, alcohol use and countless reports of migrant worker deaths marred the tournament.
In the end, the quality of the game erased that stain on FIFA. End-to-end drama and Lionel Messi’s crowning moment are the story points for the 2022 World Cup.
Unfortunately, human rights abuses are relegated to a footnote in competition lore.
At least one of two things has to change for any protest against this World Cup to bear fruit. First, FIFA’s host selection process needs to be more vigorous in the future. You should put emphasis on human rights records. Two, the hosts, like Qatar, change after hosting the event.
It is unlikely that any of these will occur. The tournament itself was amazing. The guilt of enjoying the competition on the field knowing what happened outside takes over.
Changes coming in the 2026 World Cup
The biggest change to come in 2026 is an increase in the number of participants. Instead of the 32 teams competing between 1998 and 2022, there are 48 teams lined up for 2026.
UEFA’s participation goes from 13 teams to 16. AFC (Asia) doubles the number of guaranteed teams from 4 to 8, like CONCACAF, which goes from 3 to 6. CAF (Africa) goes one better, going from 4 to 9. CONMEBOL (South America) goes from 4 guaranteed places to 6. But the biggest winner is New Zealand. Oceania gets a guaranteed place. It’s hard to see a team from Oceania ditching New Zealand in their rankings.
In addition to the guaranteed places, the Intercontinental Playoffs remain. Those get two final spots.
Quantity over quality?
The jump in 1998 to 32 came after four tournaments with 24 teams. It could certainly be argued that increasing the number of teams to 48 may hurt quality. Keep in mind though that for the 1982 World Cup, when it increased to 24, 109 nations tried to qualify. For the most recent World Cup in Qatar, 211 nations competed in the qualifiers. The number of soccer federations on the planet has almost doubled. This is clearly a justification for doubling the number of teams in the final tournament compared to 1982 with 2026.
Of course, the number of participants has very little to do with the number of nations. Rather, it is FIFA’s desire to “spread the wealth.” Or, for those who don’t care about honesty, FIFA’s desire to make more money.
In truth, it’s hard to see anything negative in the expansion. The days of a 9-0 scoreline in World Cups are long gone. Let me remind you that Saudi Arabia defeated eventual winners Argentina at the start of the 2022 World Cup. And certainly Morocco’s game, which finished fourth, is further proof that non-UEFA and CONCACAF entrants no longer they can be taken for granted.
Participation in future World Cups gives smaller soccer nations the necessary experience to perform better as time goes on.
How does the tournament work?
So far, FIFA has not confirmed the format of the 48-team tournament. Initially, FIFA set the Group Phase to have 16 groups of 3 teams. The top two teams advance from each group to a 32-team knockout round.
This is a bad idea. The tournament itself only sees a marginal increase in the number of matches given the increase in the number of teams. This format brings the total number of matches from 64 to 80. Also, the number of matches any team plays to reach the final, seven, does not change.
Still, the main concerns of a three-team group stage go beyond this. The order of play gives select teams a huge advantage over others. For example, a team may have rest days before a knockout phase. Another team knows what result they need in the second group game while another team watches helplessly.
In general, two games to determine advancement are difficult to justify. Fortunately, the third matchday of the 2022 World Cup removed FIFA president Gianni Infantino from that. Drama prevailed as South Korea advanced over Uruguay, and Germany succumbed to a group stage exit despite winning. In both cases, the eliminated team won, but didn’t do enough for the results in simultaneous games.
If the 4-team per group is maintained, it would mean 12 groups of 4 teams. In turn, the tournament needs eight of the 12 third-place teams to advance. The European Championship uses this format. This yields 104 total games for the 2026 World Cup. That’s a big increase from the 64 currently. Consequently, the tournament runs for significantly longer than its current length of one month.
FIFA makes a decision at its Congress in 2023.
The new age
Leaving aside the number of participants, the 2026 World Cup will be the first World Cup organized by 3 nations. A big change from Qatar where all but 1 stadium was a 15 minute drive away. The 2026 World Cup venues spread across four time zones and where a national team lands in the final group stage draw could make a big difference.
This tournament returns to the traditional summer timeline. I was the first to protest playing the Qatar 2022 games in November/December. It went against everything I hold sacred about club football. But, I have to admit that I was wrong. We got to see players at the top of their conditioning. And I think a lot was shown in the final product. And when we return to league football in just a few days, no one will complain about the month’s hiatus. Things will just pick up where they left off and just extend the seasons a bit into the month of June.
Come 2026, the vast geographical area the World Cup covers coupled with the inevitable summer fatigue for players will likely only make us look back wistfully at 2022 as one of the greatest World Cups in modern history, with notes at the foot and everything.
