FIFA President Gianni Infantino has proposed a new World Cup format that would expand the field to 48 teams, 8 more than he promised during his election
New FIFA President Gianni Infantino is making waves today.
The Italian has proposed a 16 team expansion of the World Cup from the current field of 32 teams to 48 teams. If the expansion were to go through, a preliminary knockout round of 32 teams would be played in the host country with the 16 winners advancing to the group stages. They would meet the 16 seeded teams that received a bye in the preliminary round. From there, the tournament would progress us usual, with the 32 teams split into 8 groups of 4.
When explaining the expansion Infantino said, “It means we continue with a normal World Cup for 32 teams, but 48 teams go to the party.”
This proposal is not out of the blue, as he did promise expansion during this candidacy for president. This suggestion is larger than he initially proposed, though. While running for the top position at FIFA, he suggested an expansion of 8 teams to make the field 40 teams total.
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Infantino, the president elected to replace Sepp Blatter, revealed his plan at a conference in Columbia. A FIFA council will discuss the plan in the coming weeks. A final vote on the proposal will be cast in January of next year.
There have been both positive and negative reactions coming out today about the plan. Current German National Team manager Joachim Low said that increasing the number of teams would dilute the value of the event. Former Columbian player Carlos Valderrama disagrees, saying that the growth is positive.
While Low may be correct about a possible dilution of quality, Infantino is looking at the World Cup in a broader sense. According to him, “Fifa’s idea is to develop football in the whole world, and the World Cup is the biggest event there is. It’s more than a competition, it’s a social event”. The inclusion of an extra 16 countries would make it easier for smaller countries to qualify.
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The real losers here, in my opinion, are the 16 teams in the middle of the pack. They will not receive a bye for the preliminary round, meaning they will have to play in a knockout match. They risk an upset against a smaller nation which would deny them a berth in the actual tournament. Teams like USA, Mexico, England, Netherlands, and Australia may all have to play a knockout match.
It is early to judge the proposal as it could go through significant changes or be outright denied, but it certainly feels as if FIFA want to make strides towards a more inclusive World Cup.