In a recent move FIFA voted to expand the World Cup to 48 teams from its current team size 32 and thus brushing aside concerns that the expansion would lower the overall standard of the tournament and making it too big. The current decision to expand the teams to 48 instead of 32 is raising many questions in the mind of many gaming enthusiasts and they think this increase is not good for the game as it will be difficult to manage and adhere to many things.
Soccer’s governing body in the meantime said on its Twitter feed that the FIFA Council, its decision-making panel, had voted unanimously in favour of the change which will be introduced at the 2026 tournament. As per this new format which will include a first round of 16 groups of three teams, FIFA said, with further details to be given later. FIFA president Gianni Infantino, who replaced the disgraced Sepp Blatter in February, had made World Cup expansion one of his promises during his successful electoral campaign and now it is his turn to keep his electoral promise. However Infantino had initially suggested a 40-team tournament but then added another eight to that total in October.
FIFA’s 211 member associations each hold one vote in the presidential election and 135 of them have never played at a World Cup, so expansion of the tournament was always like to appeal. Those who have never qualified include 41 out of 54 of its African members and 10 out of 11 members in the Oceania region. As per critics this expansion is not gone well and they say that with this FIFA is tampering with a winning formula.
The ECA, the association which represents more than 200 more European clubs, said that the decision was based on “political reasons rather than sporting ones” and taken “under considerable political pressure.” In a statement they said that “We fail to see the merits to changing the current format of 32 that has proven to be the perfect formula from all perspectives,” adding it would address the issue in more detail at the end of the month. “It will not help development of the game or provide improved competitive opportunities for lower-ranked nations,” it said in a statement. “Instead, it will make a mockery of the qualification process for most confederations.”
As per this expansion another worry is that there could be a number of matches at the end of the group where both teams know exactly which result will send them into the next stage.
