I think it is good news that 48 teams will take part in the championship instead of 32. I think that 48 teams are not enough, because football is a very popular game and essentially every country has national football teams. I would prefer to have 96 teams in the championship, not 48. After all, the more teams in the championship, the more representative the event is, and secondly, the more significant the victory will be. Can the championship be considered a world championship if it includes national teams from less than half of the countries in the world? Of course, this question is rhetorical and for now we will have to look only at games between teams from developed countries. However, as the economic level of many poor countries improves, they will also be able to present their national teams in the championship. It would be exciting to see a tournament table of 100 teams someday.
I think 48 teams is the right amount of team. 96 teams is just too much. I know the more representation the better, for the clubs that are not “champions”, there are UEFA Europa League and UEFA Conference League for them. The group stage structure is a little bit confusing for many people as well and it will take time to get used to them. The competition with 48 teams is complex enough so making the competition with 96 competing teams would be a very bad decision.
Also making 96 teams means players and teams will have to play more matches.
After the 48-match tournament introduction, teams will already have to play 1 more match than the previous seasons. Many players get injured due to heavy schedules and if by increasing the amount of matches, the quality of games would just drop.
It is true that if a 96-team tournament is held, it will help many poor countries. But I think if it is really necessary, then create another competition like the Conference League. I don’t see any point of a considerably weak team getting paired up against the likes of Real Madrid or Manchester City and then getting totally destroyed. This would just lower the quality of football, as mentioned before.