World Cup 2026 - 48 team shitefest.

[John Arne]

The AFC have just announced the process for Asian World Cup qualifying for 2026.

8.5 spots, likely to be;

Iran
Japan
S.Korea
Saudi Arabia
Australia
UAE
2.5 of China / Oman / Uzbekistan / Iraq

The qualifying has been combined with the 2027 Asian Cup qualifying, and it's a bit of a clusterfuck.

- R1: Pre-qualifiyng to get rid of the likes of Guam, Bhutan and Macau
- R2: 9 groups of 4, top 2 qualifying for Round 3
- R3: 3 groups of 6, top 2 each group qualify for World Cup, position 3-4 go to R4
- R4: 2 groups of 3, top 1 each group qualify for World Cup, 2nd place teams playoff against each other, winner goes to R5
- R5: Intercontinental play-off, winner goes to World Cup

I doubt any Asian team will make the quarter-finals, unless South Korea can find a few more decent defenders.



The actual World Cup itself will be held in MexiCanAm(?) in the summer 2026.

16 groups of 3 teams () - which seems ripe for a lot of 0-0 draws in the final group games. Top 2 teams from each group head to the knockouts. It's kinda shit that a lot of not great teams will be there, but at the same time, it should be interesting to watch Peru versus Cape Verde.

[Giggles]

United 2026

The South Americans are doing well with only 40% missing out.

[John Arne]

United 2026

The South Americans are doing well with only 40% missing out.

Aye, gonna take some going not to qualify.



Presumably New Zealand will stroll through OFC.

[Ben]

Think of the money though.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Has everyone forgotten about W.Germany/Austria and the fact that 3-team groups fundamentally don't work?

[Don]

I don't see the drama, yes group stages are shit as a spectacle of the sport but more random country clashes and the shit will either be filtered out by KO or there will be some incredible upsets.

[Manc]

If anything the World Cup needs to downsize. 24 teams is probably the sweet spot.

[Jimmy Floyd]

I have gone through a couple of these World Cups on FM and what tends to occur is the group will be say Germany, Peru and Uzbekistan, and unless the first game is Germany v Peru (introducing a bit of jeopardy to Peru when they lose), then it's just a complete waste of time as Uzbekistan get battered 4-0 by both and go out.

The only interesting groups would be the ones with a weak seed AND an unusually good pot 3 team.

[John Arne]

I have gone through a couple of these World Cups on FM and what tends to occur is the group will be say Germany, Peru and Uzbekistan, and unless the first game is Germany v Peru (introducing a bit of jeopardy to Peru when they lose), then it's just a complete waste of time as Uzbekistan get battered 4-0 by both and go out.

The only interesting groups would be the ones with a weak seed AND an unusually good pot 3 team.

This basically. Any group whereby the top seed is involved in the final game of the group is basically going to be 0-0. The only real jeopardy will be if the pot 2 and pot 3 teams play each other in the final group game.

[Yevrah]

I said this when the European Super League was touted and it remains the case. Premier League aside, the various governing bodies in football do simply not know how to structure and organise football properly. The new World Cup and Champions League are abominations that should never have even got past the suggestion stage.

[Jimmy Floyd]

They're accountants who don't understand that making your product worse will utlimately (or fairly quickly, in fact) lessen its value. Mr Goose and Mr Faucet.

[Boydy]

I said this when the European Super League was touted and it remains the case. Premier League aside, the various governing bodies in football do simply not know how to structure and organise football properly. The new World Cup and Champions League are abominations that should never have even got past the suggestion stage.

What's the new Champions League?

[Jimmy Floyd]

The Swiss System

Comfortably the worst idea ever.

[Boydy]

The Swiss System

Comfortably the worst idea ever.

Oh yeah, I remember hearing that now.

Just had a read of how it works. Sounds absolutely awful.

[Giggles]

I had a look there to jog my memory again and I still can't make head nor tail of it. Still a case of wake me up when the quarter finals start.

[John Arne]

Knocked off work early, so put this together. Based on the current world rankings, and assuming the FIFA allow all 3 hosts auto-qualification (but not seeded into pot 1). 2 Inter-continental spots given to the next highest teams in the rankings (excluding UEFA). Groups drawn to avoid groups containing multiple teams from the same continent (which FIFA did for the last World Cup for UEFA teams).



Group C looks tasty.. the rest, m'eh.

And my prediction for 2nd round

[Don]

That looks great, group stages becoming as meaningless as the gammon's resistance to change and a straight KO tournament of much greater variety.

[John Arne]

#TeamMelli

[Giggles]

That looks like it'll be 3 knockout rounds deep before it'll be worth turning on.

[wullie]

They should just get on with making it 64 teams if they're going to expand it just to keep the four team groups with two going through, three team groups and best-placed third teams qualifying are all shit.

[John Arne]

FIFA look set to announce that they are doing away with 3 team groups, and going with 12 groups of 4, with top 2 going through, along with 8 best runners-up.

Groups of 4 way better than groups of 3.

[Shindig]

That still sounds a bit crap, to be honest.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Anything involving the phrase 'the eight best third-placed teams' is not sport.

[randomlegend]

Neither is anything with a tea break.

[Giggles]

If you finish 3rd out of 4 teams then you should be fucking off home.

[John Arne]

They announced the new World Cup 2026 logo/brand today and it's fucking rubbish.

View Tweet

[John Arne]

The king of World Cup logos.

[niko_cee]

#WeAre26?

[Yevrah]

What does that even mean?

[John Arne]

What does that even mean?

I think it's a reference to the legal age to smoke crack in Mexico. Is that right @Pepe?

[Jimmy Floyd]

It looks like a video game logo, which is probably the intention.

[Yevrah]

Nailed it. It’ll be to push whatever shitty game FIFA put their name to after parting with EA.

[Ian]

If the trophy was done as a sort of line drawing it'd look a bit less shit (only a bit) I think, but they've probably got some nonsense rule where if the actual trophy is being depicted it has to be in all its golden glory.

[John Arne]

Asia first round starts today, with some proper shit teams giving it go.

2 legged games, though don't be surprised if either Nepal or Afghanistan withdraw if they get dicked at home in the first leg.

All winners go through to the proper group stage with everyone else from Asia (+Australia).

[Bernanke]

Chinese Taipei vs. Timor-Leste.

[John Arne]

Chinese Taipei vs. Timor-Leste.

I'm personally looking forward to Indonesia smashing Brunei 12-0.

[John Arne]

Myanmar 5-1 Macau
Chinese Taipei 4-0 Timor-Leste
Maldives 1-1 Bangladesh
Singapore 2-1 Guam
Nepal 1-1 Laos
Cambodia 0-0 Pakistan
Hong Kong 4-0 Bhutan
Indonesia 6-0 Brunei
Afghanistan 1-0 Mongolia

Lol at Singapore stumbling to a 2-1 win at home to Guam (201 in the world). All other results pretty standard, given the results for the home teams, I suspect all 2nd legs will take place.

[Don]

Pakistan and possibly Afghanistan look like decent results. The former along with India seem like they're making big strides.

[Raoul Duke]

Someone should do a spreadsheet of which country would be the easiest to qualify for and earn a cap. Like a ratio of [nationalisation] to [world ranking]

[Offshore Toon]

I'm fairly certain we could just buy AE a passport somewhere and let him av it.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Edward_(soccer)

Wiki says he was capped at U17 level for Australia.

He'd have surely gotten capped for the senior Tanzania side.

[Jimmy Floyd]

2010 Nashville Metros 6 (0)
2011–2012 River City Rovers 23 (6)
2013 Des Moines Menace 6 (0)
2014 Wilmington Hammerheads 11 (0)

Has anyone ever had a football career with a better average quality of club name? 'Des Moines Menace' is an all timer, and River City Rovers is poetry in motion.

[John Arne]

Australia have pulled out of hosting 2034, which leaves Saudi Arabia as the only nation left.

[Bernanke]

[John Arne]

Fuck the AFC, and fuck FIFA.

View Tweet

[Jimmy Floyd]

Mental from an AFC perspective that they'd carry on selling out to that mob rather than trying to break new markets like India, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia. I guess it's less about the business long term and more about getting key people paid now tax free.

[niko_cee]

When is the 2023 Club World Cup? Isn't it a mega long format now or is that from next year?

Can't imagine they're going to wedge a month long tournament into December to suit certain interests. Oh wait.

[Jimmy Floyd]

32 teams, hosted in god's United States in summer 2025. Apparently Chelsea have already qualified, maybe they take League Cup 2nd round performance into consideration.

The last dinky one is in (wait for it) Saudi Arabia in December.

[John Arne]

Vietnam kicked off their 2026 campaign with a great 0-2 away to Neil Etheridge's Philippines.

On the plane.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Mo Salah with two goals so far against Djibouti in the opening qualifier, they must be loving life. At least they turned up for the game, unlike Eritrea who have withdrawn from their game against Morocco, and the tournament as a whole, due to 'concerns that players would seek asylum during away trips'. Nothing says confidence in your national infrastructure like that.