World football governing body FIFA is planning to expand the tournament from 32 teams to 40 teams. Fifa’s executive committee discussed increasing the size of the tournament at its meeting in Zurich and deferred a final decision until next year.
This is not the first time the expansion move would be discussed, and if it's approved this time around, it would add another 32 fixtures to the World Cup from the year
2026, taking the total number of games to 96. It is likely this would
involve the size of groups being expanded from four to five teams,
meaning the overall length of the tournament could increase by up to a
week from the current 31 days.
Most of the additional eight countries would come from outside Europe in a bid to appease those who feel Uefa has a disproportionate number of spots. Uefa will have 14 at the next World Cup in Russia, up to 10 more than the
next best-represented confederation. The Oceania Football Confederation currently has no guaranteed finals place. Making a decision on World Cup expansion prior to a new president taking office could help Fifa convince its 209 member associations to vote in favour of sweeping reforms to the governing body at February’s congress.
Those were also being discussed at Thursday’s meeting, which took place against the backdrop of a new wave of dawn raids on Fifa’s Zurich hotel and the arrest of more senior football officials. Two ExCo members were among those detained.
A 40-team World Cup was first proposed by suspended Uefa president Michel Platini just over two years ago in reaction to a threat by banned Fifa president Sepp Blatter to strip Europe of some of its spots. Critics argue expansion would dilute the quality of the tournament by adding countries not strong enough to compete with the world’s best. However, last year’s World Cup in Brazil appeared to demonstrate the gap in quality was closing between teams in the group stages.
Most of the additional eight countries would come from outside Europe in a bid to appease those who feel Uefa has a disproportionate number of spots. Uefa will have 14 at the next World Cup in Russia, up to 10 more than the
next best-represented confederation. The Oceania Football Confederation currently has no guaranteed finals place. Making a decision on World Cup expansion prior to a new president taking office could help Fifa convince its 209 member associations to vote in favour of sweeping reforms to the governing body at February’s congress.
Those were also being discussed at Thursday’s meeting, which took place against the backdrop of a new wave of dawn raids on Fifa’s Zurich hotel and the arrest of more senior football officials. Two ExCo members were among those detained.
A 40-team World Cup was first proposed by suspended Uefa president Michel Platini just over two years ago in reaction to a threat by banned Fifa president Sepp Blatter to strip Europe of some of its spots. Critics argue expansion would dilute the quality of the tournament by adding countries not strong enough to compete with the world’s best. However, last year’s World Cup in Brazil appeared to demonstrate the gap in quality was closing between teams in the group stages.
Source: telegraph
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