FIFA’s new president, Gianni Infantino (who took over for Sepp Blatter in February of 2016), has been pushing for the expansion since he took control.
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“Sixteen more countries, some of which probably will never have dreamt to participate in a World Cup, will have the chance to participate”. For the World Cup, the most prestigious tournament in the world, teams need to work hard to get there.
Suddenly smaller nations have impetus to raise their level, and that can bring knock-on improvements to the standard of their domestic competition and investment at grass roots. “The interesting thing to see will be that how many teams make the cut from Asia”, Das expressed his initial thoughts.
The next two World Cups, which will be held in 2018 in Russian Federation and in 2022 in Qatar, will be organized in line with the previous FIFA regulations stipulating a participating format of 32 national teams.
These spots are usually taken by powerhouses Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Australia.
Infantino’s views were also supported by Singapore national caretaker coach V.Sundramoorthy.
After reaching the decision to expand the FIFA World Cup™ to 48 teams in 2026, members of the FIFA Council spoke to FIFA.com about their thoughts.
Then again, Africa and Asia are now dramatically underrepresented at the World Cup, with just four berths apiece.
The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has had four representatives each in the past five World Cups since it became a 32-team affair in 1998.
Far too often we focus on the club versus country issue in football.
“This format can be played in exactly the same number of days as today, 32, and the winning team will play the same number of games, seven, as today, and in the same number of stadiums, 12, as today”, he said.
FIFA’s plan is to use 16 three-team groups, preceding a round of 32 – a total of 80 matches across a 32-day competition.
The All Whites play Fiji in home and away ties in March for the Oceania Confederation title, with the victor advancing to a playoff against a South American side.
Infantino took over the body 11 months ago with a vow to fix the damage done at the end of Sepp Blatter’s tenure by growing football across the globe.
However, not all are in favour of the change.
The biggest detractors to the expansion plan were English Football Association chief executive Martin Glenn and German Football Association president Reinhard Grindel, both of whom preferred the current 32-team format because a change could affect the quality of the tournament.
Delegates were asked to vote on four proposals to change the existing format or stick with the current format of 32 teams.
Critics strongly oppose the move, and it was branded a “money grab and power grab” by New FIFA Now, a group campaigning for reform of the scandal-tainted body.
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“It will not help development of the game or provide improved competitive opportunities for lower-ranked nations”.
