2026 World Cup thread

[Inky_Wretch]

The head of CONMEBOL tweeted today the next WC will feature 64 teams - even though FIFA has not officially announced it yet.

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

All the big beer drinking countries have got to be placed in Group P.

 

[Spartan Squad]

I had assumed it was for sure 64 teams and I’d be shocked if FIFA backs down from it (though they should).

I’m curious hopes they’ll work a 64-team tournament with a group stage followed by a knockout round. You need a power of 2 to avoid byes so 16 groups of 4 with only first and second places advancing. Or a certain number of third places with offsetting byes, which means a long time off for some teams and an extra week on top of the extra time to account for an additional 16 teams.

 

[Webster]

I had assumed it was for sure 64 teams and I’d be shocked if FIFA backs down from it (though they should).

I’m curious hopes they’ll work a 64-team tournament with a group stage followed by a knockout round. You need a power of 2 to avoid byes so 16 groups of 4 with only first and second places advancing. Or a certain number of third places with offsetting byes, which means a long time off for some teams and an extra week on top of the extra time to account for an additional 16 teams.

I guess that it will be 16 groups of 4 with the top 2 from each group advancing. So the knockout round will still start at 32.

The problem is that you have to squeeze 24 more group stage games in. Guessing they expand the days for the first 2 matches by a few days so that every match can be seen. For match day 3, they probably add a day and have then have 4 groups (not 3) end on 1 of the days.

i think that it will effective be 2 brackets of 32 with the rest days coming together at the semifinal stage.

 

[micropolitan guy]

Gord lived in Detroit for a spell with Chuck and Joni Mitchell

He was also a huge hockey fan and probably heard some radio Red Wings broadcasts growing up in Orilla.

 

[Inky_Wretch]

 

[MileHigh]

Always read Leander Schaerlaeckens ...

That was very well done.

 

[MileHigh]

I guess that it will be 16 groups of 4 with the top 2 from each group advancing. So the knockout round will still start at 32.

The problem is that you have to squeeze 24 more group stage games in. Guessing they expand the days for the first 2 matches by a few days so that every match can be seen. For match day 3, they probably add a day and have then have 4 groups (not 3) end on 1 of the days.

i think that it will effective be 2 brackets of 32 with the rest days coming together at the semifinal stage.

Why stop there? How about 16 groups of four used as seeding and have all 64 go to the knockout stage.

 

[Bubbler]

I guess that it will be 16 groups of 4 with the top 2 from each group advancing. So the knockout round will still start at 32.

The problem is that you have to squeeze 24 more group stage games in. Guessing they expand the days for the first 2 matches by a few days so that every match can be seen. For match day 3, they probably add a day and have then have 4 groups (not 3) end on 1 of the days.

i think that it will effective be 2 brackets of 32 with the rest days coming together at the semifinal stage.

Two out per group is better than having third-placed teams going through, but 64 is pushing it in terms of field dilution.

A friend of mine surmised (no expert, just an educated guess) that FIFA will do everything it can to get underperforming, but heavily-populated nations like China and India into the competition somehow. Or Indonesia, Malaysia, the eastern African nations that typically flame out in qualifying, etc., but that have a huge audience. Russia will almost certainly be back too.

Seeks implausible and anti-competitive, but it’s FIFA, so nothing is off the table or too shameless.

 

[HanSenSE]

So which city will be Dayton and Wichita on the world stage?

 

[Gym Beam]

Another reason not to watch. 16 countries is plenty, the rest are just bull****ters hoping to make some money and get a free trip.

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

Another reason not to watch. 16 countries is plenty, the rest are just bull****ters hoping to make some money and get a free trip.

Every once in a while, though, you get a Cabo Verde, that with a better draw might have made a little louder ruckus.

 

[Chet Lemon]

Another reason not to watch. 16 countries is plenty, the rest are just bull****ters hoping to make some money and get a free trip.

Reminds me of another tournament!

 

[TrooperBari]

If this World Cup was 64 teams, here's the talent pool for the remaining spots, using the final teams eliminated in qualifying.
Asia: UAE, Oman, Indonesia (China finished behind Indonesia in the second group stage and needed a tiebreaker to get past Thailand in the first; India finished level with Afghanistan in the first stage)
Africa: Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon
CONCACAF: Jamaica, Suriname, Honduras
South America: Bolivia, Venezuela, Peru, Chile (I include Chile mostly out of pity)
Europe: Italy, Poland, Kosovo, Denmark
Oceania: New Caledonia, Tahiti, Fiji

Some recognizable names in there, and the possibility for another Cape Verde certainly exists, but you'd be hard-pressed to say a World Cup would feel incomplete without any of them.

 

[TrooperBari]

Good read from Tutul Rahman here. Of course, like anything that reflects positively on MLS, people are falling over themselves in the replies to come up with some other metric that shows this doesn't count, only for Tutul to go "it's in the article, and it doesn't change the result".

 

[Inky_Wretch]

Another reason not to watch. 16 countries is plenty, the rest are just bull****ters hoping to make some money and get a free trip.

Go watch midseason baseball. It’s fine. But I’ll watch every damn WC match I possibly can.

Relatedly, I’ve gotten the OK to look at a trip to Euro 2028.

 

[DanOregon]

Not counting PKs after ET, can you guess how many goals were scored during the entirety of the World Cup. (Hint: it was the most ever).

 

[da man]

Not counting PKs after ET, can you guess how many goals were scored during the entirety of the World Cup. (Hint: it was the most ever).

Probably because there were more games than ever.

 

[DanOregon]

No duh. But highest average Goals per game as well. More less deserving teams will do that.

 

[HanSenSE]