World Cup Expanded to 48 Teams

[ItalAussie]

Utter disgrace.

They even commissioned their own report which came back saying that it will be less competitive, but make more money.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

What a joke.

[wullie]

If they're going to have sixteen groups they may as well just make it 64 teams straight away instead of doing it four years later as they're inevitably going to anyway.

[Mellberg]

Still getting away with it. Just want to see Rome burn now. England should just grow some bollocks and pull out of Russia and Qatar. It'd probably achieve fuck all, but would be more interesting than watching them get knocked out by Nepal and Sierra Leone respectively.

[ItalAussie]

If they're going to have sixteen groups they may as well just make it 64 teams straight away instead of doing it four years later as they're inevitably going to anyway.

I'd actually be more alright with 64 than 48. At least it's a situation where half the teams are knocked out in the group stages, and half progress.

Having 48 teams offends me as a mathematician. :moop:

[Yevrah]

I'd agree with Wullie, in that if they were going to change it and make it rubbish they should have just gone for 64 teams, which the quality obviously isn't there to warrant, but it would have at least made for a group structure that isn't a total shambles.

On the plus side, 2026 is another 9 1/2 years away and I doubt I'll care at all by then, particularly after having gone through the Russia and Qatar experiences, which will both be soul destroying in their own special ways.

[Yevrah]

Having 48 teams offends me as a mathematician. :moop:

It's so bad, so so bad.

[wullie]

I'd have rathered the Euros was bumped to 32 teams for a similar reason. None of this best third placed nonsense, just have your success in the group stage relying on what happens in your group alone.

[phonics]

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Two 0-0s and a penalty shoot out win takes you through. It's an absolute nonsense.

[Jimmy Floyd]

This marks the end of the World Cup as a serious tournament.

[Giggles]

The China world cup.

If they don't qualify :drool:

[Jimmy Floyd]

I saw they were trying to merge the North and South American qualifying as well. If ever there's a way of blowing America out, that is it.

It's interesting that cricket is trying to go the opposite direction, but for the same (money) reasons, with India essentially trying to stop other countries from playing.

[Kikó]

Can't wait. After the successes of Qatar and Russia this will be amazing. They should let BPLSPB qualify for it as well and make it a club v country super cup.

[Spammer]

I still think it'd be cool to have a one-off, FA style World Cup where it's just a knockout tournament from the off.

[Yevrah]

I saw they were trying to merge the North and South American qualifying as well. If ever there's a way of blowing America out, that is it.

Why would they want to do that?

[Offshore Toon]

As much as I enjoy the smaller teams/underdogs in International competition, this might dilute that enjoyment somewhat. I do think it'll be fun to see teams pop up that I've never paid attention to before. The more mental African teams and goalkeepers, the better.

[Pepe]

It'd probably achieve fuck all, but would be more interesting than watching them get knocked out by Nepal and Sierra Leone respectively.

That actually sounds interesting.

As for the 48 team thing, well, lol.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Why would they want to do that?

Merge them or flame America? They wouldn't like to do the latter, which is why it surprised me.

[Adam]

The 48 team thing will be worth it just to laugh at the Scots when they don't qualify.

That would be glorious :drool:

[Yevrah]

Merge them or flame America? They wouldn't like to do the latter, which is why it surprised me.

Yeah, the latter. The revenue streams (particularly the potential ones) must be huge.

[Jimmy Floyd]

They're in an absolute hole qualifying for Russia at the moment, so it'll be interesting to see which refs they bribe to get them through.

[Lewis]

I don't see how it makes things less competitive/dilutes it, because the shit teams will just get bashed out early and then the last sixteen will have the same QUALITY as always. It will just make it longer and duller (and even then we're in a minority in terms of watching loads of it).

[phonics]

With FIFA rankings as they are, this would be the competitors in the 48 team cup.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C10autWW8AMFC4A.jpg:large

[Jimmy Floyd]

I'm all for more Haiti, tbh.

[Jimmy Floyd]

I don't see how it makes things less competitive/dilutes it, because the shit teams will just get bashed out early and then the last sixteen will have the same QUALITY as always. It will just make it longer and duller (and even then we're in a minority in terms of watching loads of it).

SLOW STARTERS could easily get tanked by this system.

[phonics]

Who were the ridiculously dirty bastards, I think in South Africa, was it Honduras? They were absolutely brutal, every tackle took the guy out by a good 5 yards.

[Mazuuurk]

How does CONCACAF have more slots than South America :cab: Has it always been like that.

[phonics]

Because Concacaf get more votes than South America hence the 48 team WC in the first place.

[Jimmy Floyd]

South America only has 10 countries in it, and three of them are long term useless.

[Mazuuurk]

South America only has 10 countries in it, and three of them are long term useless.

Whereas CONCACAF has like 40 and only 2 or 3 of them are useFULL.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Yeah, but if you said 8 South American teams are going to qualify then you might as well just abolish football in the region because there will be no competition.

It does make sporting sense to combine the Americas qualifying.

[phonics]

40 votes is also more useful than 10 votes.

[Smiffy]

I'm all for it. I never got what the fuss was about in international tournaments prior to the summer so long may it continue. The format is the bigger problem, three teams in a group? Nah. Keep it at 4.

[Jimmy Floyd]

40 votes is also more useful than 10 votes.

Votes to do what? This in itself is what you need votes for.

[Giggles]

With FIFA rankings as they are, this would be the competitors in the 48 team cup.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C10autWW8AMFC4A.jpg:large

That looks absolutely muck. I'd cut it to 24.

[Kikó]

Just have the top 2 in a final played every month. And abolish all friendlies and qualifiers.

[Giggles]

Just have the top 2 in a final played every month. And abolish all friendlies and qualifiers.

14 Europe, 6 South America, and play qualifiers between the rest for the other four.

[Mazuuurk]

40 votes is also more useful than 10 votes.

Is that how it works, everyone gets one vote each regardless of country size or stature within the footballing world / ranking or whatever?

[phonics]

Yep, it's why they hate the UK as we're 5 votes that will pretty much always vote as a bloc. It's also why UEFA have tried to push countries like Gibraltar and Kosovo etc. so they get another vote to exploit.

[wullie]

It's the same thing that took a lot of the shine off Eurovision.

[Mazuuurk]

Saying the Eurovision is lacking in "shine" is not quite the right way of putting it I reckon.

[wullie]

The sequin and sparkle count is way down since it got all politicised, it used to be about the great music and showmanship.

[Lewis]

Yep, it's why they hate the UK as we're 5 votes that will pretty much always vote as a bloc. It's also why UEFA have tried to push countries like Gibraltar and Kosovo etc. so they get another vote to exploit.

Britain also holds half of the voting power on the International Football Association Board (one of those lol hangovers from inventing everything), which means that if FIFA want to play World Cup games in quarters and add McDonald's breaks then they have to get us on board. :cool:

[phonics]

Yeah, we were the ones that banned the Poppy as well which is quite funny.

[The Merse]

As with the Champions League expansion in the 90s (was it 96?) I definitely don't approve.

I did agree with the Euros though - seeing as how the number of registered European national sides has just about doubled since the qualifying for the first 16 team tournament (96) began 23 years ago.

231 years since Euro 96 :sick:

[Jimmy Floyd]

All the new teams were in Euro 96 qualifying. Belarus beat Holland within. Croatia and Czech Republic of course made the latter stages.

[The Merse]

Bosnia Herzogovina, Kosovo, Serbia, Montenegro.

Ok that's not double. It's about double that of Euro 92 qualifying, but that's definitely not what I said and also may defeat my point about further expansion.

[Giggles]

In fairness, you also said this is the year 2227.

[Baz]

International football is proper turd anyway. I don't see what's wrong with 48 teams.

[Queenslander]

Dream group as an Australian-

Australia
New Zealand
Uruguay
England

[ItalAussie]

I'd love to get a rematch against Iran at some point.

[Manc]

The last two World Cups have been the absolute pits. International football ended with "that" headbutt.

[Disco]

Why Uruguay?

[Queenslander]

Why Uruguay?

We had a very bitter home and away qualifying series in 2005.

Ended with this after our players were spat on and threatened by their fans at every given chance in the lead up to the first leg in Uruguay.

https://youtu.be/K4fOtbKUme0

Iran are definitely on the list but an Asian Cup final would be perfect.

[ItalAussie]

Iran are definitely on the list but an Asian Cup final would be perfect.
That would be pretty special.

Incidentally, I give it ten years before the West Asian nations force the Asian Cup to go the same way as the Asian Champion's League, and keep the east and west nations apart until the final.

Still, we won so they can suck it.

[Queenslander]

This will be tacky but there can't be many things more pathetic than watching so called grown men from those Arab nations attempting to play a contact sport.

[Offshore Toon]

Why Iran?

[Queenslander]

Chip on our shoulders still from the 1997 world cup qualification decider. Their diving and time wasting put them on the list of forever enemies in football.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Football in the Arab world (stretching from Morocco all the way to Iran) is little more than the attempt to go 1-0 up and then run the clock down. They don't see that as timewasting. They see it as the normal game. Why would you carry on playing when you only need to run the clock down.

It's fucking glorious when it backfires and they suddenly all pour forward in the 88th minute, before giving up and getting sent off in petulant rage.

It's also why the region has never produced a world class footballer.

[bruhnaldo]

Have 64 teams.

Do a knockout round to start based on the FIFA rankings of each team. So if you're ranked the lowest out of the 64 teams you would play the #1 team in the world.

Play this round. Reseed the teams based on the remaining. Have another knockout round (highest vs. lowest, 2nd highest vs. 2nd lowest... etc.)

Remaining 16 teams would then go into 4 groups based on the same rankings. Highest ranked in Group A, 2nd in Group B, 3rd in Group C, 4th in Group D. Lowest ranked then in Group A, 2nd lowest ranked into B. Etc. etc.

Round robin. Everyone plays everyone once. Top 4 teams advance to the Semi-Finals.

Highest point total gets #1 seed, so on and so forth. Tiebreakers determined by GD.

[Jimmy Floyd]

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/xpqa1KqTsdM/hqdefault.jpg

[ItalAussie]

It's also why the region has never produced a world class footballer.
If Omar Abdulrahman ever actually left the UAE, he'd be in that category. It's despairingly crazy that he won't.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Youssef Msakni (Tunisia) should have been enjoying a top level European career for the last 5 years but is instead pissing away his best years at Lekhwiya in Qatar for easy money. It's just how they're wired.

[Max Power]

Aboutrika :drool:

[wullie]

Mustapha Hadji was world class in my heart.

[Jimmy Floyd]

The Far East has also never produced a world class player, although in their case it's because The Company comes first.

And America hasn't because of their pathetic college system.

[Shindig]

Nakata carried a world class reputation. He was in Nike ads and everything.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Only to get to the crapanese market. Sorry, Japanese. I got a sternly worded letter from Ital last time I used that. Seol Ki-Hyeon also in the cage advert.

[Shindig]

Nakamura kicked a free-kick through an open bus window. ON PURPOSE.

[bruhnaldo]

Yah, my country's hopes rely on Christian Pulisic at the moment.

So...

[Pen]

I was against the expansion, but since it's now happening I feel slightly aggrieved that countries like Curacao, Haiti, China and UAE are looking like standard options for the World cup and New Zealand got a pretty much guaranteed spot whilst we are never going to make it to a World cup :moop:

[Giggles]

I was against the expansion, but since it's now happening I feel slightly aggrieved that countries like Curacao, Haiti, China and UAE are looking like standard options for the World cup and New Zealand got a pretty much guaranteed spot whilst we are never going to make it to a World cup :moop:

That's where it's a load of bollocks.

[Jimmy Floyd]

'World' being the key word. There should be a large geographical element if you want to grow the game, or else you're saying that certain countries/regions will always be inferior.

[Giggles]

'World' being the key word. There should be a large geographical element if you want to grow the game, or else you're saying that certain countries/regions will always be inferior.

I want to see the best teams in the world at the time. Not the best from regions thrown together. That might be legitimate 'world' but it's not a legitimate tournament.

[Pen]

I am not saying the places should've been given out proportionally in the same manner as the first 32. That said, obviously as a fan of a minnow nation that has very little chance usurping the big boys in our confederation I envy the chances some teams that I don't think are much better will have a probable chance of qualifying.

We'll make a tournament during my lifetime as half of Europe now qualifies for Euros and the World cup will probably grow to 64 countries by 2030.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Finland are terrible, Pen. You probably wouldn't qualify for the AFCON.

Finland 1998-2001ish would have a chance of making the 48 team cup, i.e. not terrible. And you really should have made a Euros by now.

[Giggles]

And they're still better than the likes of Haiti.

[Pen]

I am under no illusions regarding our national team. I've seen those jokers live on four different decades now and I'm still waiting to leave the stadium after a Finland win. We might not be completely shit for eternity though and that's when competing against teams of the quality of those listed above would increase our chances of qualifying for a World cup tenfold. I'm somewhere between you and Giggles on this one. I bet the people making these decisions saw the value of those Asian spots especially, but I would have preferred to see Europe and Africa get maybe two/three more each with Asia, Oceania (they really don't ned a guaranteed place for New Zealand) and Central and North America getting less.

[John]

And they're still better than the likes of Haiti.

How many Finland and Haiti games have you seen?

I reckon I could name maybe four current Finnish internationals, and the only one who's a legitimately top player has just been banned for ninety years for sniffing.

[Giggles]

How many Finland and Haiti games have you seen?

I reckon I could name maybe four current Finnish internationals, and the only one who's a legitimately top player has just been banned for ninety years for sniffing.

John, go fuck off and waste your time in someone else. You wouldn't have a fucking clue about either yourself.

[John]

I've said as much in the second line of my post. I'm not the one claiming with certainty that one is better than the other.

[Pen]

So this is how it's going to look with 48 teams:
Europe: 16 (13)
Africa: 9 (5)
Asia: 8,5 (4,5)
Concacaf: 6,5 (3,5)
South America: 6 (4,5)
Oceania 1 (0.5)
And one place for the hosts.

Concacaf getting the same amount of new places as Europe and Asia getting more is a bit lol.

[Giggles]

I've said as much in the second line of my post. I'm not the one claiming with certainty that one is better than the other.

I've seen enough of them to know that Finland are better. And you know full well they are too.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Haiti and Curação wouldn't actually qualify, they just game the rankings by only playing other Caribbean teams (I think). Nobody in real qualification goes to those Central American countries and gets anything.

[Pleb]

Oceania and Asia should merge just for the lolz.

[John]

I've seen enough of them to know that Finland are better. And you know full well they are too.

I don't. All I know full well is that you haven't watched a second of either, and won't have done since whenever Finland last played Ireland.

It's an odd thing to be strident about something you know nothing about.

[Pen]

Whether we are shit or not (and we are) is kind of irrelevant. It's just that when we possibly do an Iceland or get a golden generation or whatever, I'd much rather try to dislodge the likes of Panama, Curacao and Haiti whilst keeping Jamaica, Guatemala and St. Kitts & Newis behind us than trying to get in front of Turkey, Hungary, Slovakia, Ukraine and Bosnia whilst trying to keep Sweden, Austria, Romania and Northern Ireland behind us. Just to put it in a context. We might never do it with the second lot, but I'm confident we would do it at some point with the first.

We can of course argue the relevance of Finland getting to a World cup or what would they add, but I don't think its different compared to any other minnow who might make it to a World cup with the added places.

[Raoul Duke]

It's just a ploy to get more FIFA Congress votes by expanding the number of additional countries to ones which are more easily corruptible. Why see it as anything else?

[Giggles]

It's about joining hands around the globe and promoting the people's game. For the people. Of the globe.

[Raoul Duke]

Whilst rifling through their pockets and fleecing them for tax-free cash :drool:

[John Arne]

Finally some good news, Saudi Arabia have pulled out of hosting the 2030 World Cup.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Have probably learned from Qatar that it really isn't worth the hassle.

If the South American bid loses to the fuck-up Spain+ bid I might cry.

[Kikó]

Finally some good news, Saudi Arabia have pulled out of hosting the 2030 World Cup.

Aye because they're buying all the players to make their own one.