The 2022 World Cup draws to a close this weekend, marking the end of an era for the tournament before it rolls into the United States, Mexico and Canada in four years’ time.
– World Cup 2022: News and features | Schedule | Bracket
The current format, which sees 32 teams drawn into eight groups of four nations feeding into the knockout rounds, first featured at France ’98. It’s all a generation of football fans has known, spanning 24 years and seven editions.
In 2026, 48 teams take part in the World Cup — 45 qualifying nations plus the three host countries. (FIFA president Gianni Infantino has indicated none of the hosts will not have to go through qualifying.)
It means the natural format of 32 teams in eight groups with the top two teams going through to create the perfect, 16-team knockout bracket is over.
There are going to be more teams, more games, more kickoff times and a longer tournament. The World Cup has lasted around 32 days throughout the current format (though it was condensed into 29 in Qatar), but it will have to be at least 35 days if FIFA expands to a mammoth 104-game tournament from the 64 it is now.
So will the 2026 World Cup work, who will qualify and what could it look like?
Why are there more nations at the 2026 World Cup?
This is the largest expansion the World Cup has seen. It started out with between 13 and 16 nations in 1930, 1934, 1938 and 1950. From 1954 onwards, the tournament featured 16 teams until it was increased to 24 for Mexico ’86, and then 32 for France ’98.
The move from 32 to 48 teams is a 50% increase, and will make it difficult for any one country to host the event because of the venues and infrastructure required.
Infantino, who was originally elected to run FIFA on a proposal to expand to 40 teams, robustly defended the decision when it was announced in 2017, which FIFA projects will generate $1 billion more income and $640 million additional profit.
Infantino says the money will be reinvested in football: “Increasing the size of teams which can participate will increase the investment in football development, to make sure that the teams can qualify.”
