World Cup 2026 - 48 teams

[Samid]

FIFA ranking top 48 countries representation:
Europe 28
Africa 7
CONMEBOL 8
CONCACAF 3
Asia 2
Oceania 0

2026 World Cup representation:
Europe 16
Africa 9
Asia 8
CONCACAF 6
CONMEBOL 6
Oceania 1
Playoff 2 (featuring teams from all continents except Europe)

16th European team is ranked 26th. Currently six European that are ranked better than the best Asian team will be missing out. Yet they somehow proceed to give Asia 8 spots. 8th Asian team is ranked 77th. 6th CONCACAF team is ranked 62nd. Farcical.

If you thought it was bad enough with Panama, Saudi Arabia etc. at this year's tournament then just wait until 2026. FIFA is a fecking joke and the 2026 World Cup will be beyond a parody.

 

[SCP]

At least will have a positive point, sooner or later someone will break the record of Just Fontaine

 

[fcbforever]

FIFA ranking top 48 countries representation:
Europe 28
Africa 7
CONMEBOL 8
CONCACAF 3
Asia 2
Oceania 0

2026 World Cup representation:
Europe 16
Africa 9
Asia 8
CONCACAF 6
CONMEBOL 6
Oceania 1
Playoff 2 (featuring teams from all continents except Europe)

16th European team is ranked 26th. Currently six European that are ranked better than the best Asian team will be missing out. Yet they somehow proceed to give Asia 8 spots. 8th Asian team is ranked 77th. 6th CONCACAF team is ranked 62nd. Farcical.

If you thought it was bad enough with Panama, Saudi Arabia etc. at this year's tournament then just wait until 2026. FIFA is a fecking joke and the 2026 World Cup will be beyond a parody.

You won’t enjoy watching Uzbekiztan against Cape Verde?

 

[MrMarcello]

Has it been stated if the six CONCACAF for 2026 are including three host nations automatic entry, or will it be six berths going forward as well?

 

[Samid]

Has it been stated if the six CONCACAF for 2026 are including three host nations automatic entry, or will it be six berths going forward as well?

The berths were decided before the hosts were confirmed.

The issue of how to allocate automatic host country qualification given that there are multiple host countries has not yet been resolved and will be decided by the FIFA council.[18][20][21] The United bid anticipated all three host countries being awarded automatic places.[22]

 

[rcoobc]

FIFA ranking top 48 countries representation:
Europe 28
Africa 7
CONMEBOL 8
CONCACAF 3
Asia 2
Oceania 0

2026 World Cup representation:
Europe 16
Africa 9
Asia 8
CONCACAF 6
CONMEBOL 6
Oceania 1
Playoff 2 (featuring teams from all continents except Europe)

16th European team is ranked 26th. Currently six European that are ranked better than the best Asian team will be missing out. Yet they somehow proceed to give Asia 8 spots. 8th Asian team is ranked 77th. 6th CONCACAF team is ranked 62nd. Farcical.

If you thought it was bad enough with Panama, Saudi Arabia etc. at this year's tournament then just wait until 2026. FIFA is a fecking joke and the 2026 World Cup will be beyond a parody.

Nah.

The FIFA ranking is geared towards the big confederations anyway.

 

[Mrs Smoker]

Press [F] to pay respect to six poor European countries.

 

[rcoobc]

Africa have 50+ nations. They need more places.

Asia and Oceania combined have 50+ nations. They need more places.

The panamerican region has 50+ nations. They need more places.

It's not just about strength. Give them more places and they can streamline and sort out their qualifying, allowing the smaller nations to play against the big boys more often, and improve them.

Portugal, Switzerland, Germany, Poland, England, Spain, all dropped less than 5.5 points in 10 matches in qualifying, why should europe have another 10 sides when there is such a huge gulf

 

[justboy68]

I'd rather they gave Africa a few more spots than Asia or CONCACAF. It always seems that the African teams can at least challenge physically and have a fair bit of natural talent. Imagine having teams worse than Panama and Saudi there.

 

[SER19]

Im against a larger world cup but i believe we will see 16 groups of 3? So these weakest teams might play a maximum of 2 or spring a great surprise and rather than extra group game will just mean more knock outs. It might be fine

 

[idmanager]

I think its a good move. World cups help the sport grow in the nations where the sport isnt numero uno.

Also, close to 2.5 billion people in China and India combined alone. Imagine the increase in audience if they could somehow fit those two hypothetically.

Also the number of games doesnt increase.

8 groups now with 6 games each is 48
16 groups with 3 games each is also 48.

Cant see what is there to complain.

 

[Physiocrat]

FIFA ranking top 48 countries representation:
Europe 28
Africa 7
CONMEBOL 8
CONCACAF 3
Asia 2
Oceania 0

2026 World Cup representation:
Europe 16
Africa 9
Asia 8
CONCACAF 6
CONMEBOL 6
Oceania 1
Playoff 2 (featuring teams from all continents except Europe)

16th European team is ranked 26th. Currently six European that are ranked better than the best Asian team will be missing out. Yet they somehow proceed to give Asia 8 spots. 8th Asian team is ranked 77th. 6th CONCACAF team is ranked 62nd. Farcical.

If you thought it was bad enough with Panama, Saudi Arabia etc. at this year's tournament then just wait until 2026. FIFA is a fecking joke and the 2026 World Cup will be beyond a parody.

That is awful. I'm happy for some slots to be given to other confederations but that is ridiculous. I know FIFA's ranking system is a bit rubbish but if you were to write down the best 48 national sides in the world it would look nothing like the distribution for the 2026 World Cup.

Who knew we will all look back at Qatar 2022 as the best World Cup in years.

 

[Hansa]

If you thought it was bad enough with Panama, Saudi Arabia etc. at this year's tournament then just wait until 2026. FIFA is a fecking joke and the 2026 World Cup will be beyond a parody.

Before this tournament, I wasn't really opposed to the idea. And I'm not totally against more teams/fans having their day in the sun. The reason being that the eventual winners would be the same teams as always, so no change there.

However, judging by this year's games so far, the overall quality and enjoyment will diminish - no doubt. Instead of being pleasantly surprised by a couple of smaller nations, the chances are high that many of the games will be totally uninteresting for the public at large.

 

[Chairman Steve]

I don’t know if this will sound mean spirited towards other continents but if you’re going to increase the number of participants then prioritise the European teams first, then South America and Africa. I’d rather get Holland, Chile and Italy in than New Zealand, El Salvador and China for example.

I’d be interested to see how it will happen, whether FIFA will be all pro diversity and hypothetically just chuck in El Salvador in for the fun of it or whether they’ll try to get all the best possible teams in like Italy and Holland etc.

In other walks of life, the people who are pro diversity and multiculturalism talk the loudest and kick their feet the loudest. On one hand it’s nice they get in and have their moment in the sun but on the other, it devalues the quality of the tournament if they’re getting smashed by everyone else as well as their qualification route was ridiculously easy because they themselves walked over an even smaller nation.

So to me it basically narrows down to quality or diversity. Both have pros and cons but if I had to pick one, I’d choose quality since a bigger pool of quality teams will be better in the long run like all the potential matchups that could happen, potentially more high class players being there, more unpredictability as to who will the tournament outright etc, compared to the short term buzz of seeing something like El Salvador, being like “Cool they’re in it, what can they do” and then they get blown away in the group stages, become the meme material for how bad they are, get their consolation moment while being patronised by everyone else and get forgotten about after two weeks at most.

 

[Bjerring]

Maybe i'm a cynical guy, but the besides the big event and joy of football, the purpose of the tournament is still to determine the best nation right? So if the teams can't get out of their respective qualification, then they aren't good enough to compete in the competition. Panama, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia and such have qualified, they have rightfully earned their place this time around. To get to the World Cup is an succes in it self, in Denmark we aren't a sure thing at every World Cup or even at the Euros, to get to the tournaments is a big thing, and it should stay so.

 

[Hansa]

Panama, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia and such have qualified, they have rightfully earned their place this time around.

Yeah, but that's the point. From 2026 it will be more or less the same difficulty level for Denmark in qualifying, while we'll get several more nations even below the level of Panama and Saudi Arabia.

 

[uamini]

I just did a mock draw based on ELO rankings. FIFA would probably add some regional constraints for the final draw but it gives a good idea of what to expect:

Group A: Italy, Serbia, Morocco
Group B: Uruguay, Ecuador, Tunisia
Group C: England, Senegal, Honduras
Group D: France, Chile, Ghana
Group E: Switzerland, Slovakia, Egypt
Group F: Brazil, Wales, Ivory Coast
Group G: Spain, Denmark, Cameroon
Group H: Belgium, Peru, Iraq
Group I: USA, Iran, South Korea
Group J: Argentina, Poland, Syria
Group K: Canada, Australia, DR Congo
Group L: Portugal, Colombia, Panama
Group M: Germany, Costa Rica, Burkina Faso
Group N: Netherlands, Japan, Uzbekistan
Group O: Mexico, Sweden, Saudi Arabia
Group P: Croatia, Nigeria, New Zealand

That's not that bad, is it? Some seeded nations even got two difficult matchups in their group but even if you only have one worthy opponent you have to be very careful because one mistake could mean your third game is already a knockout match against a top team.

 

[Bjerring]

Yeah, but that's the point. From 2026 it will be more or less the same difficulty level for Denmark in qualifying, while we'll get several more nations even below the level of Panama and Saudi Arabia.

First of all my english is very rusty, sorry for that.

I can see i was not able to get my point across to the fullest, I actually think we agree on this. Obviously there will be some dull games during the tournament because of the draws, but it would be a huge mistake to lower the overall quality of teams competing in the tournament. I might be old fashioned, but i can no reason what soever to change the current setup! My point with qualification and Saudi Arabia and Panama is that they qualified through the proper channels, and should rightfully be rewarded for it. Also the entire world should be represented at the WC, but in a manner that reflects the level of football played around the world, as it is today, with Europe being best represented due to having the highest quality as an overall continent.

Don't change a winning formula, FIFA.

I see the argument with India and China, but if the passion for football is so big and population so great, then it riddles my mind that they can't produce enough quality players to take their countries out of the asian qualification, they simple aren't good enough to compete.

But then again, they could scrap the entire qualification across the world, and clear the calendar for two months all nations qualified, and bang out a grand World Cup. That would eliminate many international breaks, and avoid United players limping off injured for their nationalteam.

 

[Bojan11]

Yes Panama have been awful.

But there have been a few of the smaller teams who have made games tight and didn’t fold like Panama.

Let’s wait and see how the 48 team is. As long as they don’t have bullshit like the Euros where they reward 3rd best place teams.

 

[lysglimt]

Panama, Saudi Arabia, Argentina...do we really want to see these nations again

 

[Hansa]

Also the entire world should be represented at the WC, but in a manner that reflects the level of football played around the world, as it is today, with Europe being best represented due to having the highest quality as an overall continent.

Ah, ok. My mistake - I thought you were arguing for the expansion.

 

[Holters]

Wrong thread

 

[Eila]

I just did a mock draw based on ELO rankings. FIFA would probably add some regional constraints for the final draw but it gives a good idea of what to expect:

Group A: Italy, Serbia, Morocco
Group B: Uruguay, Ecuador, Tunisia
Group C: England, Senegal, Honduras
Group D: France, Chile, Ghana
Group E: Switzerland, Slovakia, Egypt
Group F: Brazil, Wales, Ivory Coast
Group G: Spain, Denmark, Cameroon
Group H: Belgium, Peru, Iraq
Group I: USA, Iran, South Korea
Group J: Argentina, Poland, Syria
Group K: Canada, Australia, DR Congo
Group L: Portugal, Colombia, Panama
Group M: Germany, Costa Rica, Burkina Faso
Group N: Netherlands, Japan, Uzbekistan
Group O: Mexico, Sweden, Saudi Arabia
Group P: Croatia, Nigeria, New Zealand

That's not that bad, is it? Some seeded nations even got two difficult matchups in their group but even if you only have one worthy opponent you have to be very careful because one mistake could mean your third game is already a knockout match against a top team.

That group K is diabolic.

 

[rcoobc]

The real and only answer, is to have a mini tournament in the winter before to decide where the remaining places go to. In the qualifying season just gone, that could have looked something like this:

Group A - Bosnia and Herz (UEFA), Iraq (AFC), Guatemala (CONCACAF), Zambia (AFC)
Group B - Greece (UEFA), UAE (AFC), Canada (CONCACAF), Ivory Coast (AFC)
Group C - Netherlands (UEFA), Ecuador (CONMEBOL), Haiti (CAF), New Zealand (OFC)
Group D - Italy (UEFA), China (AFC), Paraguay (CONMEBOL), Uganda (CAF)
Group E - Northern Ireland (UEFA), Thailand (AFC), Trinidad and Tobago (CONCACAF), DR Congo (CAF)
Group F - Slovakia (UEFA), Qatar (AFC), Honduras (CONCACAF), Burkina Faso (CAF)
Group G - Ireland (UEFA), Uzbekistan (AFC), Ghana (CONCACAF), Solomon Islands (OFC)
Group H - Scotland (UEFA), Syria (AFC), United States (CONCACAF), Chile (CONMEBOL)

Hold it over an 9 day period in January at the World Cup hosts (Weekend, Midweek, Weekend). Top 2 teams in each group go to the world cup.

Those are based on the 2018 world cup qualifying, but there are loads of teams who have done okay at previous word cups who haven't even qualified for that.

Anyone who get's through that has earned their place.

I think this is kind-of what will happen in future anyway, but right now there is a 6 team qualfying tournament in 2025... not a 32 team one!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_FIFA_World_Cup#Playoff_tournament

 

[Nick7]

One match sends people crazy 48 team world cup will be brilliant. Will make the group stage short though.

 

[RedDevilCanuck]

3 nations hosting is stupid. Mexico has hosted enough. No need to again.

A Toronto, New York, Philadelphia, Detroit type system would be much better and limit travel etc. As they are all in the same time zone.

To me hosting a world cup is pointless if you only host a few games. However an entire tournament in the cicites posted earlier would be something else. So.much diversity in those cities and mix that with travellers from around the world and it would be rocking.

 

[uamini]

That group K is diabolic.

Yeah, but that's mainly cause of a weak host nation being a top seed.

It'll really only come down to those first two games. The final 32 teams might be stronger than at a current World Cup since the additional European and South American teams could qualify instead of teams from other Confederations.

 

[Cal?]

FIFA ranking top 48 countries representation:
Europe 28
Africa 7
CONMEBOL 8
CONCACAF 3
Asia 2
Oceania 0

2026 World Cup representation:
Europe 16
Africa 9
Asia 8
CONCACAF 6
CONMEBOL 6
Oceania 1
Playoff 2 (featuring teams from all continents except Europe)

16th European team is ranked 26th. Currently six European that are ranked better than the best Asian team will be missing out. Yet they somehow proceed to give Asia 8 spots. 8th Asian team is ranked 77th. 6th CONCACAF team is ranked 62nd. Farcical.

If you thought it was bad enough with Panama, Saudi Arabia etc. at this year's tournament then just wait until 2026. FIFA is a fecking joke and the 2026 World Cup will be beyond a parody.

Well said, it's beyond ridiculous that Uefa agreed to this absurd distribution of WC places in 2026.

 

[MrMarcello]

Yeah, but that's the point. From 2026 it will be more or less the same difficulty level for Denmark in qualifying, while we'll get several more nations even below the level of Panama and Saudi Arabia.

Or Denmark could draw Portugal & Switzerland's qualifying group featuring Andorra, Faroe Islands, and Latvia, with only Hungary a decent opposition.

European has it's dross as well, like Luxembourg, San Marino, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Gibraltar, Malta, et al. These nations are no better than Panama, Saudi Arabia, etc. and would struggle to qualify in other regions.

What hurts the "bigger/established" European nations is when the draw pits 2-4 quality nations in one group, like Ukraine and Turkey found out this past cycle. And when so-so nations are grouped opening up the possibility of an average/above average nation qualifying (see Group D in the recent cycle). The playoff is a total lottery as Italy could have drawn Northern Ireland if luck had gone their way, but Italy should never lose in a two-leg format to Sweden.

I do believe 18 berths for UEFA would be proper and CONCACAF should have 4 berths (5th in playoff) and AFC with 7 berths (8th in playoff). One could argue for 1-2 more spots for UEFA and dock CAF and one of those playoff entrants. But I'm also of the mindset that I do like to see so called minnows make it to the World Cup, and the joy of the fans and players.

 

[rcoobc]

That's the thing, I'm fine with a 48 team world cup. I'm fine with it being over three countries.

But I just don't think the group stage will work. Let's take an imaginary group with England, USA and China.

Friday June 12th 2026 - 3:45 pm

And here we are, it's finally here, the opening match of the tournament. The United States vs England. These players from the United States have been imagining this day for the past 8 years, since the decision was made to host it here. The youngest player for the United States was just 10 years old when the US won the rights to host the tournament. England of course will co-host the next tournament in four years time, along with Australia. The teams are on the pitch, so let's going our commentary team, JayZ is alongside Sir David Attenborough.

Friday June 12th 2026 - 5:45 pm

And there we have it, a winning start for the USA, England are in serious trouble here, they'll need to massively improve against China. It's England 1, USA 4

Thursday June 18th 2026 - 8:52 pm

What a great win for England! That's more like it. A total performance, everything we could want. England have beaten China here with a dominating performance. It's England 2, China 0. They could have scored more goals. They should have scored more goals.

Unfortunately, we won't know if England have qualified from the group until the USA have played China in 5 days time! The England fans have an agonizing wait to find out if they've qualified. If USA avoid defeat against China, England go through. We won't know if they've done enough until then. We're all supporting the US now. If they do qualify it's another 9 days before they play again. The fans from England are faced with sticking around not knowing. We'll find out later.

Tuesday June 23rd 2026 - 3:50 pm

Misery for England. We knew it was possible but we didn't think it was going to happen. The US were poor, but the way both sides stopped attacking in the 60th minute was disgraceful. It's China 2, USA 0. All three teams have 3 points, the USA top the group with a +1 goal difference, China go through in second with a neutral goal difference, and England are out having conceded 4 and only scored 3. England are out. FIFA will have to look at this format because both China and the US gave up in the second half knowing they were safe. England fans have waited most of a week only to find out they've been knocked out. England at the group stage. Surely England manager Wayne Rooney will have to resign. That's it for us tonight. Goodbye.

 

[Nick7]

That's the thing, I'm fine with a 48 team world cup. I'm fine with it being over three countries.

But I just don't think the group stage will work. Let's take an imaginary group with England, USA and China.

Friday June 12th 2026 - 3:45 pm

And here we are, it's finally here, the opening match of the tournament. The United States vs England. These players from the United States have been imagining this day for the past 8 years, since the decision was made to host it here. The youngest player for the United States was just 10 years old when the US won the rights to host the tournament. England of course will co-host the next tournament in four years time, along with Australia. The teams are on the pitch, so let's going our commentary team, JayZ is alongside Sir David Attenborough.

Friday June 12th 2026 - 5:45 pm

And there we have it, a winning start for the USA, England are in serious trouble here, they'll need to massively improve against China. It's England 1, USA 4

Thursday June 18th 2026 - 8:52 pm

What a great win for England! That's more like it. A total performance, everything we could want. England have beaten China here with a dominating performance. It's England 2, China 0. They could have scored more goals. They should have scored more goals.

Unfortunately, we won't know if England have qualified from the group until the USA have played China in 5 days time! The England fans have an agonizing wait to find out if they've qualified. If USA avoid defeat against China, England go through. We won't know if they've done enough until then. We're all supporting the US now. If they do qualify it's another 9 days before they play again. The fans from England are faced with sticking around not knowing. We'll find out later.

Tuesday June 23rd 2026 - 3:50 pm

Misery for England. We knew it was possible but we didn't think it was going to happen. The US were poor, but the way both sides stopped attacking in the 60th minute was disgraceful. It's China 2, USA 0. All three teams have 3 points, the USA top the group with a +1 goal difference, China go through in second with a neutral goal difference, and England are out having conceded 4 and only scored 3. England are out. FIFA will have to look at this format because both China and the US gave up in the second half knowing they were safe. England fans have waited most of a week only to find out they've been knocked out. England at the group stage. Surely England manager Wayne Rooney will have to resign. That's it for us tonight. Goodbye.

You know you could have boiled that whole post down into two sentences, without the weird fanfic nonsense.

 

[FrantikChicken]

You know you could have boiled that whole post down into two sentences, without the weird fanfic nonsense.

 

[MrMarcello]

Yeah, I'm not a fan of groups of three and could easily set up "a fix" in one way or another.

What other options are there? A straight one-off knockout or two-leg knockout from 48 to 24 - then what?
Or go 24 to 12 - then what?
Or go 12 to 6 - then what?
Or go 6 to 3 - then what?

Or a seeding system that would see 16 byes and 32 in a knockout round, winners to a group with the other 16 nations?

 

[rcoobc]

You know you could have boiled that whole post down into two sentences, without the weird fanfic nonsense.

I felt it added to the explanation of why the format is shit

 

[Hansa]

I do believe 18 berths for UEFA would be proper and CONCACAF should have 4 berths (5th in playoff) and AFC with 7 berths (8th in playoff). One could argue for 1-2 more spots for UEFA and dock CAF and one of those playoff entrants. But I'm also of the mindset that I do like to see so called minnows make it to the World Cup, and the joy of the fans and players.

Yeah, as I mentioned in another post, I'm usually intrigued to see new teams, and like you, I don't begrudge anyone the party that goes along with it. However, this particular World Cup has made me doubt exactly how many more I'd like to see in one swoop.

 

[rcoobc]

Yeah, I'm not a fan of groups of three and could easily set up "a fix" in one way or another.

What other options are there? A straight one-off knockout or two-leg knockout from 48 to 24 - than what?
Or go 24 to 12 - then what?
Or go 12 to 6 - then what?
Or go 6 to 3 - then what?

Or a seeding system that would see 16 byes and 32 in a knockout round, winners to a group with the other 16 nations?

8 groups of 6. But an incomplete round robin, where each team plays 3 games. So on a group of England, Belgium, Panama, Tunisia, USA and China; England might play Belgium, Tunisia and USA... Belgium might play England, China and Panama... USA might play England, China and Panama, etc

 

[MrMarcello]

8 groups of 6. But an incomplete round robin, where each team plays 3 games. So on a group of England, Belgium, Panama, Tunisia, USA and China; England might play Belgium, Tunisia and USA... Belgium might play England, China and Panama... USA might play England, China and Panama, etc

Heck, might as well go 12 groups of 4 and factor in 4 wild cards for 16 to the knockout.

<--- is not a fan of uneven group play. Should play all nations in the group, IMO.

 

[rcoobc]

Heck, might as well go 12 groups of 4 and factor in 4 wild cards for 16 to the knockout.

<--- is not a fan of uneven group play. Should play all nations in the group, IMO.

Or 16 groups of 3 where everyone plays a wild card game against a team from another group. So you can get Brazil Vs Argentina as a wild card group game

 

[rcoobc]

Heck, might as well go 12 groups of 4 and factor in 4 wild cards for 16 to the knockout.

<--- is not a fan of uneven group play. Should play all nations in the group, IMO.

If England played, Tunisia, Panama and Chile and got 7 points, and Belgium played the same three teams and got 9 points, I feel like it's clear from that the Belgium are more deserving of a place in the next round.

When you have 67% of nations going through to the next round, the group stage is mostly a warm up and ranking system anyway. Doesn't need to be too serious.

 

[MrMarcello]

Or 16 groups of 3 where everyone plays a wild card game against a team from another group. So you can get Brazil Vs Argentina as a wild card group game

That would be quite interesting, like a warmup match but the points do not factor. Maybe have a rivalry matchday! Argentina vs Brazil, Mexico v USA, England v England.