Topic: FIFA World Cup 2026 :Canada/Mexico/United States: Discussion Thread - page 158. (Read 57610 times)

I think that all the excitement of this is that it is done as always, every 4 years, so there is no kind of boredom for people, the fact of waiting 4 years makes many prepare more eagerly, because they know that a World Cup is a very special event, the best in the world for me, so if a team prepares to win and be in a World Cup, they have to go through the qualifiers very well, there is no other way, now what I like is that the quotas have increased, because that way more teams that are very good and that It doesn't happen, well they can do it with that new rule, but doing it every year is something that doesn't look good, I think nobody would like it.

I think that we, who are great soccer fans, would not like an event like this to take place every year or every 2 years, I think that the longest I would put up with it being brought forward would be every 3 years, it seems good to me, because in 2 years we can do the qualifying rounds, and also now it is becoming more interesting because more slots for the World Cup have opened up and this makes things more interesting, especially for the teams of nations that have never been to a World Cup.

Personally, my Venezuela would like to see it in a World Cup, I would also like to see India in a World Cup, they are teams that play interesting football, but have not yet been in shape to arrive, I hope that this World Cup in the USA, Mexico and Canada can achieve it, but they still have to work very hard, at least in South America the teams are very strong, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Colombia, they are very football-loving countries and they are also very strong with players who mostly play for recognized teams in Europe.

I think that people will not even watch the games on television, so I think that changing some rules just like this one will have a negative effect on the quality of the world cup, because they will not have to wait four years for it. This is why I believe that changing some rules just like this one will have a negative impact on the quality of the world cup.

FIFA was in desperate need to increase the total revenues and they only had two options - either keep the format of 32 participants and conduct the world cup every two years, or conduct the world cup every 4 years with 48 participants. I guess they chose the second option, as the majority of the members preferred it. I have seen a lot of users here criticizing that decision, but I am sure that the majority of the fans are in favor of an extended tournament with larger number of participants. At least that is the hint that I get when I talk to my friends. 

Yes, the 2026 Tournament is expected to last between 38 and 40 days, which is certainly an increase compared to previous tournaments. This was to be expected since a total of 104 matches will be played, compared to the 64 we witnessed before. I suppose that's one of the positives from a spectator's perspective because we'll be able to enjoy the entire event for longer. However, it also means more revenue for FIFA from live rights, sponsorships, and advertising. I believe that's probably the primary purpose behind these changes.

I feel like making that much money must be the main reason for any business in the world. They are an "organization" and not a company perse, but the aim is the same, making as much money as possible. When you make it 4 years in between, people wait for it for a long time and the value of the cup increases.

Think about it, you could only play in 4 or 5 tournaments all your career, even if you get elected at 16, which is very rare, 20 years means 36, so 5 is usually the maximum amount anyone could ever join, usually less. But, when you make it 2 years, then it would be like 10, and suddenly all of your waiting is over very quickly and it's not that rare and unique anymore. I think it's quite important to just realize that if possible.

I am very optimistic about the Brazil team in 2026 World Cup because currently several young talented players are already performing well for various clubs in Europe. Besides the young talented players, another good news for Brazil is that Carlo Ancelotti may be the manager of Brazil in 2026 World Cup. The CBF has already appointed the manager as Brazil's national team coach on a one-year deal, who will take over the team between 2024 and 2024. If he can bring significant success for the team in one year, the CBF will definitely extend the contract with him until the 2026 World Cup. The 2026 World Cup will be a great World Cup for Brazil if Carlo Ancelotti extends his contract until 2026.

The Brazil team can do great things in the next World Cup. Because some of the young players in this team are currently performing exceptionally well, these players will have tremendous experience when the next World Cup comes around.

Seems quite a large figure because in one country, there many teams/clubs. But in the upcoming FIFA World Cup, we will have a new format because this time, 48 teams will play and it will be a much longer event compared to the recent World Cups that we have witnessed. As per speculations, we can say that there are some disadvantages and advantages but we will be more certain about those things after witnessing another World Cup that will be introducing a new format.

How would adding a Burkina Faso to the World Cup final stage affect the chances of the top teams? I don't think they will be a threat to anyone. Perhaps paradoxically, this will rather increase the chances of the top teams - they used to have chances to destroy each other in the early stages of the tournament (even in the group), but now they are more likely to get into the playoffs.

I can somewhat agree with you. Actually FIFA football world cup is held after four years is very patience. As football fans are now addicted to football, FIFA can host the World Cup every two years if they want, because every country is now economically self-sufficient.

Well, according to Wikipedia, there are currently 211 men's national football teams affiliated to FIFA, through their national football associations. So, what we can say is that football is played in almost every country of the world. But that is not all, there are also 23 subnational and dependent territories, as well as three states with limited international recognition that are also members of FIFA.

We already talking about having the world cup every two or three years instead of fours years and we all know if you see the world cup in a shorter period of time you won't have an interest to watch the games anymore because one good reason for people to have interest on watching the world cup is mostly that they have to wait fours years and get themselves ready for it which can increase the interest.

It's not just about increasing the number of teams in the teams in world cup and having more participants. It's mostly about the Asian teams and especially teams like Saudi Arabia spending too much money and investing in their football. I'm sure in the next years this investment they have will give them good results and we can see them improving their performance that's why I said there is a chance for the in the next world cup.

Every country are keeping a closer sight on the upcoming competition. When the number of participants for the World Cup increases, I don't see any focus on Asia or Africa countries. Usually, Africa countries will perform at their level, and Asian countries will also be competitive, but no one knows the outcomes of football; the impossible can happen, but no one knows when. Bringing these countries together is a challenging task, and we should always expect the best from them. The 2026 World Cup would be one of the most difficult and popular competitions in the world, and everyone looks forward to it.

A world cup every two years is probably coming, however I do not think FIFA will ever get rid of the qualifiers, the qualifiers themselves take 18 months to 24 months to take place and there are way more games during the qualifiers than during the world cup, and as such they are another important source of income for FIFA and the rest of the federations, however I really think FIFA is abusing its power and the more they do it the higher the chances some players will begin to boycott the qualifiers and even the world cup, as they are exhausted already with the high number of games they need to play each year and they will be unable to deal with the additional number of games a world cup every two years would entail.

We had this discussion infinite number of times in this thread. I would summarize my arguments in favor of increasing the number of participants:

1. Current setup favors UEFA teams. 40% of the representation is given to UEFA, despite their quality being declining for some time.
2. Gap between stronger teams and weaker teams continue to narrow.
3. In general, football is becoming more popular around the world
4. Asia and Africa are severely under-represented
5. A number of top players continue to miss out world cup, because their country can't qualify (Goran Pandeev, Erling Haaland.etc).

Maybe after they increase the number of teams in the next world cup in 2026 we can see more countries from Asia and Africa and these countries will have more chance to win the title for the first time, also I think Asian teams are trying hard to invest more of football and if this continues we can see these counties winning the title soon.

That's the thing.

Only Europe and South America has won the world cup.

In the entire history of the competition, almost 100 years, only countries from those 2 continents have won it. And they are really close.

The third continent is way below.

@Leviathan.007 every sport organisation is trying to milk the maximum money they can and thus FIfA is no different then other sport organisations who’re too trying to get maximum money they can from their respective sports eg ICC. Furthermore if FIFA World Cup is held every two year’s then most player’s will quit playing national football as it’ll increase their work load and the excitement of winning the World Cup will end.

Even if we have 194 counties in the world in some countries they don't have football at all or in some other countries football is not a priority and they pay more attention to other sports, I think increasing the number of teams can have bad effects because we can see more countries in the world cup we should not normally see them, more week team in world cup means lowering the quality.