Despite the commotion it caused at the time, it has been a fact since FIFA announced that the 2026 World Cup, to be held in the United States, Canada and Mexico, will officially have 48 teams. The traditional 32 format was last used at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar before being scrapped and replaced by the new expanded format.

It is not the first time that FIFA has tweaked the World Cup format in an attempt to continue to increase the value and popularity of its flagship event. With a greater global presence and the growth of the game on the rise, FIFA sought to include more countries, thus creating greater global interest in the competition. Adding races helps increase commercial revenue and broadcasts.

How many teams will there be in the 2026 World Cup?

FIFA confirmed on 10 January 2017 that the 2026 World Cup would expand participation to 48 groups.

It’s about an increase of 16 teams compared to the previous format, in which 32 teams reached the final tournament every four years since 1998. The World Cup has been developed as a 32-team tournament for seven editions since France 98, which has increased participation from the 24 competitors of 1994 .

With the increase in equipment, the total number of games played will be from 64 to 104. However, the maximum number of matches each semi-final will play will also increase eight meetings: three from the group stage and five from the knockout stage.

2026 World Cup format with 48 teams

While FIFA intended to increase the number of matches by increasing the number of participants, world football’s governing body also made sure to do not increase the total load too much of teams and players. So FIFA devised a tournament structure that would meet both goals.

The 2022 World Cup, the latest 32-team edition, featured eight groups of four teams, as had been the norm since 1998. The top two teams from each group advanced to the Round of 16, which marked the start of single-leg qualifying.

From 2026to host a 48-team tournament, the option chosen by FIFA was 12 zones with four teams each, rather than one 16 groups of three teams each This could have created an upset because there were teams that would have been free on the deadline barring another result.

Of the 12 zones of the four groups, The top two from each zone plus the 8 best third place finishers will advance to the direct elimination phase.which would result in 32 teams and thus another round of heads-up duels, starting from phase 32 instead of phase 16.

FIFA also considered a 48-team tournament with a 32-team knockout round in which the top 16 would get a direct bye to the next round, but it was deemed unfair in sporting terms. There were also two formats built around a 40-team tournament, but FIFA preferred the 48-team format.

Which teams will qualify for the 2026 48-nation World Cup?

In May 2017, FIFA confirmed which confederations would receive additional places at the 2026 World Cup.

The confederations that receive the most seats are Africathat takes four seats guaranteed plus an intercontinental playoff spot. follows him Asiawhich takes four additional seats. the confederation European receives three morelike North Americawhile South America wins three. Oceaniafrom his side, takes one.

Below is a comparison of the 2022 World Cup slots as they have been established since 1998 and the new extension for the 2026 World Cup. Each 0.33 place means a place in the intercontinental playoffs, which was previously 0.5.

^{*CONCACAF earns an additional spot in the intercontinental qualifier to host in 2026}

The intercontinental playoffs have also been expanded from four to six teams. Five of the teams will be determined strictly from one tournament to the next, as indicated by the “half places” in the table above, with the sixth team coming from an additional place awarded to the host confederation (in 2026, it will be Concacaf). ..

The six teams of the intercontinental playoffs will qualify according to the ranking Officially FIFA, both top two will get a bye and the other four will play in a qualifying round.

The host automatically qualifies for the 2026 World Cup

One of the innovations of the 2026 World Cup format is this the three hosts – the United States, Canada and Mexico – will automatically qualifyas is tradition in the organization of the World Cup.

In addition to these three positions for the home team, Concacaf will qualify the top three teams from its Qualifiers directly for the 2026 World Cupwhile those finishing fourth and fifth will play in the intercontinental playoffs for one more chance.

Normally, if the World Cup with this 48-team format had not been played in the United States, Canada and Mexico, Concacaf would have placed six direct qualifiers among its 35 teams, with the seventh going to the intercontinental playoffs.

In the 2002 World Cup, the only other one hosted jointly by multiple countries, hosts Japan and South Korea qualified automatically. However, these slots were counted as part of the allocation of four direct slots from Asia. Thus, only two other Asian teams – China and Saudi Arabia – earned a place at the World Cup through qualification in the Asian region, while a third team, Iran, qualified for the intercontinental play-offs but lost.

History of FIFA World Cup Formats

Although the recent history of the World Cup has remained fairly static in terms of the format of the competition, it has changed quite a bit compared to the original tournament in 1930.

The more familiar 32-team entry structure did not appear until 1998, when FIFA increased the qualifying teams to 24, a total last seen at the 1994 World Cup in the United States. This 24-team format was used for four tournaments.dating back to the 1982 World Cup, in which the participation of 16 teams increased.

There have also been many format changes. The 1982 World Cup was the first in which the field was increased from 16 to 24 and used a format with two group phases. Six groups of four awarded 12 participants a passage to the second group stage, in which four groups of three were drawn. That second group stage sent the four group winners into the knockout round of the semi-finals.

In the 1986 World Cup, although the field remained at 24, the format was changed to a single group stage, with six groups of four. The top two teams advanced to the knockout stage (12 in total), along with the four third-best teams for a round of 16 knockout stage.

The craziest format of the World Cup premiered 1950never no actual final was played. Instead, what was then a 16-team field contested the opening group stage with four groups of four. The four group winners went to final championshipand the winner was declared champion.

However, it was the final match of the group stage that decided the winner, as Uruguay beat Brazil 2-1 to be crowned group champions, so it is considered the ‘final’, although it has not been officially designated as such.

The positive and negative aspects of the 2026 scheme are changing

With any massive reform of the structure, there will always be discussions and debates about which is preferable.

After the announcement of the new scheme for 2026, there were significant reactions on social media. Here’s a rundown of what the World Cup will gain and lose by moving to an expanded 48-team field.

Positive aspects of extending the 2026 World Cup

Although the extension of the World Cup to 2026 has been the subject of much criticism, the new format it has some advantages.

Teams that don’t normally make it to the World Cup will have the chance to enter the tournament and play on the biggest stage, and fans will be able to see rare global matches as teams from different parts of the world are forced to compete.

On the other hand, expanding the knockout stage to 32 teams instead of 16 adds an extra element of chaos. While a larger playoff team does not lend itself to competitively crowning the “best” team with the trophy, it can lead to an exciting tournament that puts the best teams at risk on a regular basis, similar to what happens every year in the United States with the March Madness college basketball tournament.

The negative aspects of extending the 2026 World Cup

There are two major areas of criticism that the new format has faced.

First of all, as mentioned above, a more “chaotic” style of play it doesn’t produce a worthy champion that often. While upsets are fun for fans, leaving top teams in jeopardy more often can make fans The most popular teams and players are out of the competition in the following rounds. It can be fun to watch the underdogs in the competition, but ultimately fans want to see the best teams in the final rounds. Ratings often reflect this line of thinking, and FIFA could be at greater risk of making the semi-finals and final rounds less desirable.

Second, and more importantly, FIFA has come under a lot of criticism for extending the World Cup qualifiers. With 16 additional tickets available, part of the charm that the difficult qualification road had was lost somewhat as more teams enter. For this reason, the best teams from each confederation are likely to find those World Cup qualifiers are less and less importantand that instead they are limited to quasi-friendly matches.

For example, if Concacaf won two or three additional spots in the expanded World Cup, the United States would find almost impossible not to qualify for the future World Cups, which they would create a very different racing dynamic to what existed in previous years.

Likewise, in South America’s Conmebol region, Brazil and Argentina are already ahead of the rest of the continent’s teams and the expansion of places It will only reduce the pressure and importance of each party classification.

Qualification for the World Cup it has come to represent an achievement for all countries, regardless of lineage and ability. For example, Italy missing out on the World Cup (as they did in 2018 and 2022) is highly likely on current form. In the same way that a country like Wales or Canada reaches the World Cup for the first time in decades becomes a festive event.

Conversely, for many of the top teams and even some of the mid-tier ones, more places available mean that qualification will be almost assured and the importance of qualifying for the World Cup will be significantly reduced.