By Mark Gleeson
Doha: Having just delivered arguably the most exciting group stage ever seen at a World Cup, FIFA now faces the prospect of ripping it all up.
The Qatar group stages saw a tried and tested format keep hundreds of millions of fans enthralled until the very last match.
Two thrilling final Group E games in Qatar meant qualification for favourites Germany and Spain went down to the wire. In the end, not even a 4-2 win by Germany over Costa Rica (pictured) was enough to see Germany through to the knockouts.Credit:Getty
Reform of the group system mooted before the 2024 event would see the current formula ripped up and replaced by a turgid fortnight of drab games and dead rubbers as the governing body tries to accommodate 48 teams in the 2026 tournament.
FIFA’s plan to have 16 groups of three teams in the first phase, with two from each advancing to the next stage, now look dangerously dull, as well as potentially courting unsporting behaviour.
As things stand now for 2026, when Canada, Mexico and the US host the World Cup, there’s a risk of ‘dead’ matches involving two teams that have already qualified – or, worse, contrived results.
FIFA conceded earlier this year it was concerned about the possibility of contrived results where two teams could engineer a result that would eliminate the third group team.
The 2026 format has the 48 teams reduced to 32 after the group phase after which the tournament becomes a knockout affair.
Alternative formats are now on the table, with the FIFA Council, the organisation’s all-powerful cabinet, to decide next year.
One option, according to FIFA’s head of global football development Arsene Wenger, is to feature 12 groups of four teams, with the best third-placed teams advancing with the top two.
Another option would be to split the World Cup into two separate halves of 24, each with six groups of four teams. The winner of each half would meet in the final.
Given how dramatic and exciting some of the four-team groups were in Qatar, that seems a more viable proposition.
But that will mean a substantive increase in the number of games. The 32-team World Cup in Qatar has a total of 64 games completed in 29 days and, for now, the 2026 finals will be 80 games over 32 days.
With four team groups, there would be 104 matches, requiring at least an extra week.
There, FIFA runs the risk of tilting the delicate balance of all-consuming excitement that the World Cup has proven in Qatar into a drawn-out affair that loses its lustre with the quality of entertainment diluted.
However, more matches would mean more television rights money and – as the World Cup brings in some 90 per cent of FIFA’s revenue – its leaders could be tempted.
Reuters
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