This one kinda slipped by me, but it seems the new FIFA head Gianni Infantino wants to expand the World Cup to 48 teams. I know that a bigger comp of 40 had been mentioned, but now the 48 will be up for discussion at the next FIFA meeting in January.
The proposal is 16 groups of 3 teams with the top 2 teams in each group qualifying to a 32 team knockout round. Sounds interesting. While 16 groups sounds unwieldy, it should surely mean less dead rubber games at this stage. Then a massive knockout round.
Having only given this a little thought on the way into work, I can see that there could be something worthwhile there. The main thing that I pondered was who these 48 teams would be, and how existing qualification would be affected.
Lets say that the present ratios of countries qualifying from each confederation stays roughly the same (yes, yes, feckin numbers again). At the moment the 32 teams are divided as:
UEFA – 13
CONMEBOL – 6 (including a playoff with an AFC team)
CAF – 5
CONCACAF – 4 (including a playoff with an OFC team)
AFC – 4
OFC – 0
How would a 50% increase in the number of teams qualifying affect the various confederations?
UEFA – 20
CAF – 8
CONCACAF – 6
AFC – 6
OFC – 1
CONMEBOL – 7
Hmmm. Don’t get me wrong, having greater representation from AFC, CONCACAF and CAF would be a good idea in my book, but is there really the strength to warrant it? Or is it that so few teams can qualify from these nations that actually holds them back? Would a better representation from some of these confederations increase the interest, investment and ultimately strength of their teams?
Also, there are only 10 teams in CONMEBOL. How many should qualify? 7 or 8 of the 10? M
20 teams from UEFA with 54(?) nations in qualifying. 10 groups of 5ish, top two go through?
As for the finals, you know, I am not totally against the 3 team group idea (although 16 groups is a lot). Each team plays 2 games. Not many, if any, teams would be eliminated until the final game has been played. Then a straight knockout of group winners vs runners up?
I dunno….rambling a bit here. Good idea to expand the participation to confederations that aren’t well represented? A vote buying ploy to try to curry favor with the nouveau riche in asia and the middle east? the right time to look for better representation across the globe rather than being so euro/south american centric?
Thoughts anyone?
48 Team World Cup
posted on 8/12/16
comment by D'Jeezus Mackaroni (U1137)
posted 2 minutes ago
Did this one in the summer
http://www.ja606.co.uk/articles/viewArticle/347825
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It's such a feckin mess
posted on 8/12/16
comment by Obers - I will bounce back like a champion (U3904)
posted 7 seconds ago
comment by D'Jeezus Mackaroni (U1137)
posted 1 minute ago
Having a group stage is not straight knockout though
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Your idea was a qualification process for a knockout for a group stage. I'm saying if you're having a knockout before the group stage may as well just make the whole qualification process a knockout until you get to the final 8
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Too many games.
You could have a 64 team knockout, then two groups of 4.
So 3 knockouts, 3 group games and final - same number of games for one country as now.
Total number of games now is 72 I think.
A 64 team knockout + group would give you around the same depending on if you have semis/final/3rd place, or just finals/3rd place.
The big problem is the gaps between games in the group stage.
posted on 8/12/16
comment by Manfrombelmonty (U1705)
posted 3 minutes ago
comment by D'Jeezus Mackaroni (U1137)
posted 2 minutes ago
Did this one in the summer
http://www.ja606.co.uk/articles/viewArticle/347825
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It's such a feckin mess
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The weirdest thing is that a team from the bottom 16 in UEFA is guaranteed a place in Euro 2020.
It is worth quite a few teams throwing their remaining qualifiers just to try and drop into the bottom league.
posted on 8/12/16
comment by D'Jeezus Mackaroni (U1137)
posted 46 seconds ago
comment by Manfrombelmonty (U1705)
posted 3 minutes ago
comment by D'Jeezus Mackaroni (U1137)
posted 2 minutes ago
Did this one in the summer
http://www.ja606.co.uk/articles/viewArticle/347825
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It's such a feckin mess
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The weirdest thing is that a team from the bottom 16 in UEFA is guaranteed a place in Euro 2020.
It is worth quite a few teams throwing their remaining qualifiers just to try and drop into the bottom league.
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yeah, thats the bit that confuses me. Why do that?
Gibraltar, Andorra, San marino, Leichtenstein, malta, kosovo, Moldova, Macedonia, Luxemborg, Estonia, Georgia, Cyprus, latvia, Lithuania, kazakhstan, Cyprus
Scotland are in with a shout!
posted on 8/12/16
If they want a bigger tournament, then they need to shorten the domestic season I.e get rid of the international breaks and just have the top 50 nations automatically qualify and let the remaining lot.battle for the final 14 places.
posted on 8/12/16
comment by Shaun M - Na nanana na, na na na na nanana na na na na Hadi Sackooooo! (U9955)
posted 2 minutes ago
If they want a bigger tournament, then they need to shorten the domestic season I.e get rid of the international breaks and just have the top 50 nations automatically qualify and let the remaining lot.battle for the final 14 places.
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How would you determine the top 50 teams without having countries actually play matches against each other?
posted on 9/1/17
Vote on this is tomorrow and the overwhelming feeling is that it'll get the go ahead for the 2026 World Cup.
16 groups of 3.Extra places to Africa and Asia. Purely driven by money it seems.
"FIFA expects $5.5 billion in income tied to the 2018 World Cup in Russia, though 25 of 34 sponsorship slots are unsold. The research document predicted the equivalent of $6.5 billion in revenue from a 48-team tournament in a "16x3" format, which would send two teams from each group to a new round of 32 knockout bracket.
All 80 matches would play in an exclusive time slot. Currently, 64 World Cup matches have 56 broadcast slots because the eight four-team groups play their last matches simultaneously.
FIFA predicts organising costs for 16x3 rising from $2 billion to $2.3 billion, giving a potential profit rise of $640 million."
posted on 9/1/17
And hot favorite for the 2026 tournament is supposedly a joint bid by US/Mexico/Canada.
Think I may jump of the bandwagon early and start attending some USA matches in the hope of getting tickets.
posted on 9/1/17
It is bollox. There will be far too many tied groups
posted on 9/1/17
comment by Obers (U3904)
posted 2 hours, 8 minutes ago
It is bollox. There will be far too many tied groups
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Did we ever come up with s solution to that?
Once GD, goals scored, goals conceded etc are all used up are we gonna see something daft liek shots on target, or will it go to team FIFA ranking?