The 2026 FIFA World Cup, which will begin on the 11th of this month in America, Mexico and Canada, will be unique and historic in many ways.
For the first time, the tournament will feature 48 teams instead of 32, making the competition bigger than any previous edition of the World Cup.
In the new format, 48 teams are divided into 12 groups. The top two teams from each group will advance directly to the next round and the eight best third teams will advance to the knockout stages.
In this way, for the first time, the round of 32 matches will be played and then the qualifying matches, quarter finals, semi finals and finals will be played in the traditional way.
FIFA’s head of global football development and former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger believes that the increase in the number of teams is a natural process for the development of football.
He said this expansion allowed countries like Jordan, Uzbekistan, Curacao and Cape Verde to play on the world stage for the first time.
“It’s a natural progression, I think we want to spread football around the world,” Arsene Wenger said. If you look at the journey from 1930 to now, in 2030 the World Cup will complete 100 years. We started with 13 teams, then 16, 24 for the first time in 1982 and 32 teams in 1998. Now I believe that 48 teams is the perfect number.”
On the other hand, critics believe that one-sided competition between weaker and stronger teams may increase, which may affect profitability.
In addition, the teams that reach the final will play eight matches in a short period of time, which can increase the fatigue of the players and the risk of injury.
However, FIFA believes that this expansion will be of significant benefit to both the development of football and the global economy.
