The expanded World Cup in North America got even more supersized on Tuesday. (More Football News)
The governing body of football increased the size of the 2026 tournament for the second time — six years after the f🎉irst — by approving a bigger group stage for the inaugural 48-team event.
By retaining groups of four teams i🐬nstead of moving to three, FIFA has created a 104-game schedule that will last nearly six weeks in the United States, Canada and Mexico. The final is scheduled for July 19.
The 16 host cities — 11 in the United States, three in Mexico and two in Canada — now have 24 extra games to stage on top of the 80 they already had for the inaugural 48-team tourname🎀nt.
Adding about 1.5 million more tickets will 🍰also further fuel FIFA’s expected record revenue of at leaꦯst $11 billion through 2026 from a tournament that will rely on using high-revenue NFL stadiums.
FIFA said the decision foll🃏owed a “thorough review that considered sporting integrity, player welfare, team travel, com♑mercial and sporting attractiveness, as well as team and fan experience.”
The latest push by FIFA president Gianni Infantinജo for more games and bigger events in a congested calendar will likely provoke more concern among stakeholders such as domestic leagues and players’ union FIFPRO. They have long felt isolated from talks on football's future.
The six-week World Cup will start one year after FIFA launches a 32-team Club World Cup, which could also be staged in North America to test tournament logistics. The Champions League in Europe a🃏lso has a new format with more teams and games in the 2024-25 season.
The ne▨w World Cup format will have 12 groups of four teams instead of 16 groups of three, 🔜the plan chosen in 2017. Both options were to go to a 32-team knockout round.
The format guarantees every World Cup team will play a minimum of three times instead of two, adding up to a stacked group stage totaling 72 games before arriving at the knockout rounds. The four semifinalists will play eight matches, one more than last year in Qata♕r.
The entire 2022 World Cup in Qatar amounted to 64 games in the seventh and last edition of the 32-team format. Th🅺e 1998 World Cup in France was the first with 32 teams.
Increasing the World Cup’s lineup was first floated in 2🤡015. It was proposed then as a way to sweeten FIFA’s 200-plus member federations into accepting much-needed governance reforms in the wake of American and Swiss investigatio𓆉ns of corruption.
After Infantino was elected FIFA president to succeed Sepp Blatter, one of his first big strategic wins was adding 16𓄧 teams to the World Cup. Infantino p📖ersuaded FIFA colleagues that a 48-team tournament — with Africa and Asia getting more of the extra places than Europe — would fuel interest and drive development in countries that rarely or never qualified to play on the biggest stage.
That was despite FIFA’s own re🎉search in 2016 suggesting that the highest quality footba🍌ll was achieved by the 32-team format.
In Qatar, the split-screen drama created by decisive group games played simultaneously helped c♛onvince FIFA that four-team groups are be♕tter.
There was also concern that scheduling groups of three could lead 💟to match-fixing in a final game between two teams who could both advance to the round of🔜 32.
FIFA has now found an option it said “mitigates the ri🍸sk of collusion” and also gifts itself more games to sell.
The extra 24 games should drive up the price of 🐻sponsor deal♛s and broadcasting deals not yet signed. However, some key broadcast markets are already signed, including in the United States, Brazil and the Middle East.
The 2026 World Cup was already set to earn 🎶up to $3 billion in ticket and hospitality sales for FIFA, and massively increase the tournament attendance record. That record was set in the United States in 1994 when 3.6 million spectators attended 52 games in a 24-team event.
One downside of the 48🎃-team format is the unbalanced nature of the 32 teams that will advance.
Eight of the 12 third-place teams will move on, creating uncertainty for some teams placing third in a group not knowing if they will advance until matches are completed daysꦍ later.
FIFA also explained how teams will enter the 2025 Club World Cup, including continent♊al champions in each season from 2021-24. That means Chelsea, Real Madrid, Palmeiras, Flamengo and Seattle Sounders already secured their places.
Europe’s 12 entries can also be decided by a ranking system based on the same four-year period, with a ♊cap of two teams per country advancin🍰g with exemptions for continental champions.
FIFA also plans to create another new competition starting annually in 2024 for continental champions. The Champions League winner in Eur♌ope will play the winner of playoffs featuring the other continental champions.
