The Times: FIFA suspend idea of World Cup expansion until 2026

According to the Times, FIFA is set to ditch its plans for the expansion of the Football World Cup, as growing political and logistical issues are causing FIFA too many problems.

FIFA president, Gianni Infantino, has supposedly been reluctantly forced to change his mind, with the tournament now not expanding to 48 teams until the 2026 World Cup.

The World Cup has been kept at 32 teams since the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France. It has since been the magic number, with 32 teams competing, half of them making it to the last 16, before it goes down to Quarter-Finals, Semi-Finals and Final. A system that is simple and effective.

FIFA want to increase the number of teams in the competition however, with 16 more teams to join the competition. Then there would be the decision of whether it would be 8 groups of 6, with 2 teams progressing, or 12 groups of 4, with more teams progressing through to the first round than there are under the current system.

The main reason for the change being suspended, was the political issues in the neighbouring countries to Qatar, mainly Oman and Kuwait, who wanted to host games themselves, which would only add to the tension. 

 

May 22, 2019