FIFA looking at a 48 team 2022 WC

Fr Tod Umptious

Well it's a bit wishy washy but Infantino has implied today that they might try a 48 team WC in Qatar in 2022

He seemed to just throw it out there as something to be looked at without committing to anything.

It would involve other host as well as Qatar, but on the face of it it sounds madness seeing as Qatar is on bad terms with all in's near neighbours

It's as if FIFA are doubling down on the stupidity of the Qatar selection. Rather than show up that country for what it is (a tiny country with 2.5 million people that in no way could support a 32 team tournament) they decide to spread the net wider to take the heat off the initial host selection.

https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2018/1031/1007768-fifa-keen-to-proceed-with-48-team-world-cup-in-2022/

FIFA President Gianni Infantino said on Wednesday that football's governing body is looking into the possibility of increasing the number of teams at the 2022 World Cup and sharing the hosting rights of an expanded tournament with other nations in the region.

FIFA decided earlier this year to expand the 2026 World Cup, to be held in the United States, Canada and Mexico, to 48 teams from 32 while leaving the door open to raising the number playing in Qatar in four years' time.

"We have decided to increase the number of teams participating in the World Cup final tournaments from 32 to 48 and this will happen in 2026," Infantino said in an address to the Asian Football Confederation's annual congress.

"Will it happen in 2022? We are looking at it. If it is possible, why not?"


Infantino inspecting the new stadiums in Qatar
Infantino said an expanded tournament would see Asia's allocation rise to 8.5 places from 4.5.

"We have to see if it is possible, if it is feasible. We are discussing with our Qatari friends, we are discussing with our many other friends in the region and we hope that this can happen," he added.

"And, if not, we will have tried. We will have tried because we always have to try to do things in a better way."

Tiny Gulf state Qatar, which is home to just over 2.5 million people, was awarded the hosting rights in late 2010 and has been planning for a 32-team tournament since.

Infantino acknowledged that to increase the number of teams in 2022 would require the cooperation of other countries in the region.

Qatar, however, has been in dispute with several of its neighbours since June last year, with Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the UAE and Egypt cutting diplomatic, transport and trade ties, accusing Doha of financing terrorism. Qatar rejects the charges.

Infantino also reiterated his desire to expand the Club World Cup, the next edition of which will be played in the UAE in December, saying FIFA wanted to make it "a real competition."

"One that every club in the world can target because we have global interest and everyone will benefit, not only from a financial point of view," he added.

GavRedKing

The 48 team WC is going to be sh*te anyway, combine the extra 16 teams in an already sh*te region of the planet for a WC to be held and you'll get a disaster of a tournament.

This made for funny reading however.

Qatar, however, has been in dispute with several of its neighbours since June last year, with Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the UAE and Egypt cutting diplomatic, transport and trade ties, accusing Doha of financing terrorism. Qatar rejects the charges.

Agent Coulson

Even with an expanded tournament we won't make it until MON & Delaney are gone and there is a proper overhaul of Irish football and the FAI.

GavRedKing

There'll be worse teams than Ireland get to the expanded WC and Euros but I do agree with your sentiment regarding MON and especially about Delaney.

Fr Tod Umptious

Agent Coulson wrote: »

Even with an expanded tournament we won't make it until MON & Delaney are gone and there is a proper overhaul of Irish football and the FAI.

I think in the proposal for a 48 team tournament Europe only gets one extra place so our chances of qualifying would not be a whole lot different anyway.

Say Your Number

Stop ruining football FIFA

LuckyLloyd

I look forward to the expansion to 48 so you might as well bring it on four year's earlier imo. You're all going to watch the 2022 World Cup and like it. Just you wait and see.

murpho999

Say Your Number wrote: »

Stop ruining football FIFA

People said the same when it expanded to 24 and 32 teams.

I don't see the problem.

More teams, better chance of qualifying. More fans, players get finals experience, more money for associations etc.

There is unreasonable disrespect and dislike for international football on this forum.

Yet, when it comes to tournament time. everybody watches, enjoys them and tournaments become a complete success as shown in Russia this year which was going to be a disaster according to many.

Outkast_IRE

A world cup without some of the best teams in the world . I think it should be a worldwide free for all , no ending up with ****e teams from a region cause there was no good opponents in the region

Still Ill

A 48 team World Cup will be rubbish with the proposed three team groups. It just doesn't work logistically and will lead to the final game in the group open to all sorts of potential arrangements between the teams. Aside from that, the fact that the Europe gets so few extra places compared to the weaker confederations means it'll be lessened as a footballing spectacle too.
This was just a cynical ploy by Infantino to get votes and ensure he gets the presidency. 32 teams was a perfect format.

Say Your Number

murpho999 wrote: »

People said the same when it expanded to 24 and 32 teams.

I don't see the problem.

Watch Morocco vs Iran again and come back to us about the WC needing more pointless teams and pointless matches, or do you remember the last Euro's which was mindnumbing to watch because of all the mediocre teams they let in.

The World Cup should be elite, resevered for the best teams in the world, and not for these glorified pub teams the Germans and Spanish will beat by double digits, I'll watch the knock out stages alright but the child like enthusiasm I have for it will be long gone, the naked greed of this move has devalued the whole tournament.

citytillidie

Agent Coulson wrote: »

Even with an expanded tournament we won't make it until MON & Delaney are gone and there is a proper overhaul of Irish football and the FAI.

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

I think in the proposal for a 48 team tournament Europe only gets one extra place so our chances of qualifying would not be a whole lot different anyway.

Proposed teams would see Europe go from 13 teams to 16 teams one European team in each group

rob316

Please no. Quality was bad enough in the extended format the last time.

It's a ploy to make sure the historically big countries get into the finals, like the Dutch and Italians

citytillidie

rob316 wrote: »

Please no. Quality was bad enough in the extended format the last time.

It's a ploy to make sure the historically big countries get into the finals, like the Dutch and Italians

It’s a ploy for more money, more games equals more money

Fr Tod Umptious

murpho999 wrote: »

People said the same when it expanded to 24 and 32 teams.

I don't see the problem.

More teams, better chance of qualifying. More fans, players get finals experience, more money for associations etc.

There is unreasonable disrespect and dislike for international football on this forum.

Yet, when it comes to tournament time. everybody watches, enjoys them and tournaments become a complete success as shown in Russia this year which was going to be a disaster according to many.

32 was a natural progression from 24.

24 had the problem of 3rd place teams making round 2, the expansion to 32 meant that you had a simpler 2 out of 4 qualifying system, even if you

32 to 48 is double the jump of 24 to 32, it's madness

It's spreading the quality way too thin.

How long will the tournament be, it's already a bit of a drag at over a month ?

ArmaniJeanss

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

How long will the tournament be, it's already a bit of a drag at over a month ?

It should be roughly the same length as the winners (& runner-up & semi-finalists) will still play 7 games as before. A suggested template I saw had it done in 2 extra days. There will be more days at the start with 4 games and the first day was a full set of games rather than just the opening game.

By the way I'd query the 'its already a bit of a drag over a month' comment - I don't recall many if any posters in the forum suggesting that over the course of the most recent tournament. Though obviously you may have felt it was.

Laois_Man

Say Your Number wrote: »

Watch Morocco vs Iran again and come back to us about the WC needing more pointless teams and pointless matches, or do you remember the last Euro's which was mindnumbing to watch because of all the mediocre teams they let in.

The World Cup should be elite, resevered for the best teams in the world, and not for these glorified pub teams the Germans and Spanish will beat by double digits, I'll watch the knock out stages alright but the child like enthusiasm I have for it will be long gone, the naked greed of this move has devalued the whole tournament.

In the old 24-team format, 36 games (which was more than 70% of the tournament) consisted of the group stages that only saw 8 countries eliminated. Plenty of pointless games there too!

Regarding the FIFA proposal overall - I see it as their sneaky way to effectively remove Qatar as hosts. I bet if it happened, they'd host hardly any games in the end!

NIMAN

For the 1st time ever, I missed quite a few matches in WC2018, simply because a lot of the matches didn't interest me enough.

I fear I'm going to miss a lot more in 2022. A lot more.

Muahahaha

If Qatar were to share the WC then the only ally they have left in the Middle East that could host it is Turkey. Problem there is it is still a long distance from Doha to western Turkey where the big stadiums are. Syrian airspace is closed so it would mean an even longer flight. Its not a go-er at all imo.

LeBash

Can we be number 49?

ebbsy

LeBash wrote: »

Can we be number 49?

No we certainly can not.

I am sending a strongly worded email to Fifa. Your goose is cooked lad.

764dak

World Cup: Fifa drops plans to expand Qatar 2022 to 48 teams:

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/48373886

Arghus

Thank God.

Zebra3

What a relief.

Just need the Euros to go back to 16 teams now.

And thank common sense, not some non-existent deity.

LuckyLloyd

Zebra3 wrote: »

What a relief.

Just need the Euros to go back to 16 teams now.

And thank common sense, not some non-existent deity.

2026 will definitely be 48 teams.

Fr Tod Umptious

Zebra3 wrote: »

What a relief.

Just need the Euros to go back to 16 teams now.

And thank common sense, not some non-existent deity.

No way the Euros are going back to 16.

These things only grow, not shrink.

The powers that be and the corporate entities don't care if 24 teams is watering down the finals competition, all they care is that they can now market the event and their products more vigorously in Azerbaijan because now Azerbaijan are in the finals.

GavRedKing

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

2026 will definitely be 48 teams.

Ya.

If we get over the fact Qatar was the probably the worst host of a WC in history, I just couldn't see them being able to pull off a 48 team WC with fans.

A 48 team WC would need the biggest countries hosting the event with proper infrastructure and also, it would be nice to have it in the summer and not somewhere where its nearly 50 degrees or even better again, not somewhere that f**ks up the football calendar for years before and after the event.

Just little things like that.

ERG89

Can't think of a time there has been so few good national teams so it's a relief to save people watching so many bad games.

Mars Bar

Alhamdulillah!

Schwiiing

World Cup should but the top 16 countries in the rankings at a set time in the year previous to the final.

No groups, straight knockout over 2 weeks. Too much long drawn out dirge in the competition at 32 teams as it is.

ozzy jr

Schwiiing wrote: »

World Cup should but the top 16 countries in the rankings at a set time in the year previous to the final.

No groups, straight knockout over 2 weeks. Too much long drawn out dirge in the competition at 32 teams as it is.

That's got to be the worst idea I've ever heard for a World Cup.

Still Ill

Schwiiing wrote: »

World Cup should but the top 16 countries in the rankings at a set time in the year previous to the final.

No groups, straight knockout over 2 weeks. Too much long drawn out dirge in the competition at 32 teams as it is.

Yeah, why not just send the top 16 teams in a rankings system that can be easily gamed. Then every four years half of them play a solitary game before being sent home. The magic of the cup, eh?

FatherTed

Schwiiing wrote: »

World Cup should but the top 16 countries in the rankings at a set time in the year previous to the final.

No groups, straight knockout over 2 weeks. Too much long drawn out dirge in the competition at 32 teams as it is.

Maybe you should only start watching the WC in like, ya know, the second round.... when the top 16 teams are left....

I remember when the Euros had 8 teams and the World Cup had 24 and we couldn't have been more excited for the entire tournament. The only advantage of greater numbers is that it improves our chances of qualifying, but that aside don't think it adds anything in terms of excitement.

Fr Tod Umptious

Deleted User wrote: »

I remember when the Euros had 8 teams and the World Cup had 24 and we couldn't have been more excited for the entire tournament. The only advantage of greater numbers is that it improves our chances of qualifying, but that aside don't think it adds anything in terms of excitement.

Maybe that was more to do with the fact that you were between 27 (Euro '92) and 25 (USA '96) years younger than you are today than the number of teams taking part.

Zebra3

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

No way the Euros are going back to 16.

These things only grow, not shrink.

The powers that be and the corporate entities don't care if 24 teams is watering down the finals competition, all they care is that they can now market the event and their products more vigorously in Azerbaijan because now Azerbaijan are in the finals.

I’m not expecting the Euros to revert to 16 teams again but UEFA did scrap the second group stage in the CL years ago.

The main problem with 24 teams is with 2/3 of the groups having 3/4 of the teams qualify, it really takes from the occasion of so many games.

And makes qualifying a bit too easy.

Which I guess is kinda the point as UEFA don’t want major markets like England missing out again.

DeanAustin

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I remember when the Euros had 8 teams and the World Cup had 24 and we couldn't have been more excited for the entire tournament. The only advantage of greater numbers is that it improves our chances of qualifying, but that aside don't think it adds anything in terms of excitement.

I always thought 8 was a ridiculously low number. 16 was perfect in my view and there were some great tournaments with that number. 24 is too many.

Likewise with the WC. As someone detailed, 24 was awkward and led to meaningless group games whereas 32 is straightforward. 48 is too many and I don’t understand why they are thinking of 3 team groups. Where’s the logic in that?

As for FIFA trying to tap into the US and Chinese “markets”, you can’t really blame them for that. That’s part of the reason FIFA exist isn’t it?

Pauliedragon

DeanAustin wrote: »

I always thought 8 was a ridiculously low number. 16 was perfect in my view and there were some great tournaments with that number. 24 is too many.

Likewise with the WC. As someone detailed, 24 was awkward and led to meaningless group games whereas 32 is straightforward. 48 is too many and I don’t understand why they are thinking of 3 team groups. Where’s the logic in that?

As for FIFA trying to tap into the US and Chinese “markets”, you can’t really blame them for that. That’s part of the reason FIFA exist isn’t it?

I think the reason behind the 3 team groups was to appease the all powerful clubs in that the tournament can still be done in a month and the finalists will still play 7 games but the tournament overall will see an increase from 64 to 80 games (I think those nos are right I'm open to correction)

DeanAustin

Pauliedragon wrote: »

I think the reason behind the 3 team groups was to appease the all powerful clubs in that the tournament can still be done in a month and the finalists will still play 7 games but the tournament overall will see an increase from 64 to 80 games (I think those nos are right I'm open to correction)

Ah right, cheers. Can see the logic now but I think it’ll create the sorts of problems that we saw last time we had 3 team groups (Germany v Austria in 82 for example). It compromises the integrity of the tournament IMO.

murpho999

Deleted User wrote: »

I remember when the Euros had 8 teams and the World Cup had 24 and we couldn't have been more excited for the entire tournament. The only advantage of greater numbers is that it improves our chances of qualifying, but that aside don't think it adds anything in terms of excitement.

Don't agree with this.

8 was too small and made the competition very hard to get into and it became an exclusive competition for the big boys. 16 was just right.

24 in the World Cup was odd and brought about various formats of second rounds, from a second group round in 82 to Top 2 of each group and the best 4 3rd places going through to a round of 16.

Increasing to 32 was perfect as 8 groups of 4 provided 16 round 2 teams. So it was simple, clean and neat and it should have been left at that.

Zebra3

8 for the Euros was grand in a time before the break up of Yugoslavia and the USSR.

murpho999

Zebra3 wrote: »

8 for the Euros was grand in a time before the break up of Yugoslavia and the USSR.

Expanded to 16 gives more countries experience in finals and improves them.

Greece against Portugal in 04 Final being a good example.