Kigali, Rwanda — Soccer’s 2026 World Cup in North America, already the biggest and longest in tournament history thanks to an expanded field, is growing even more as FIFA leaders agree to change the format . Originally planned.
This change creates the Marathon Men’s Soccer Championship. 48 teams in three countries will play 104 matches over 40 days, with eight matches each for the winner, runner-up, third place and his fourth place team. instead of the current seven.
The format was approved Tuesday at a meeting of the governing council of FIFA, football’s global governing body and host of the World Cup.
“I think it’s a good idea,” FIFA vice president and head of football in North America Victor Montagliani told reporters after the meeting.
The 104-game World Cup in total is a significant increase from previous plans that called for 80 games, and 40 more than last year’s tournament in Qatar, which featured 32 teams. Montagliani said the event’s footprint will never be bigger than his Cup in 2014 and he Worlds in 2018.
The change will force organizers to clear more dates in the 16 cities they have chosen to host the World Cup. It suggested there were discussions and declined to rule out the possibility of adding more hosts.
Hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada, the 2026 tournament will be the first World Cup since 1998 with 48 teams from 32 countries.
Early discussions centered on dividing the team into 16 groups of 3 people each. But after last year’s nail-biting group stage results in Qatar, officials feared the three-team group could be manipulated, with teams eliminated after just two matches. , FIFA reconsidered the issue.
The heads of football’s six confederations met with FIFA president Gianni Infantino on Monday night and none objected to the proposed format. The formal approval came Tuesday at a meeting of FIFA’s 36-member governing council. This meeting typically rubber-stamps the proposals agreed upon by the six regional leaders.
Montagliani said the idea of changing the format took shape after the Qatar World Cup. The final games were played simultaneously to ensure that no single team would benefit from knowing the outcome of rival games.
Adding games also adds days. Such periods can anger player unions and clubs concerned about the heavy workload placed on the stars of the games. We said we would extend it for 7 days.
The North American World Cup was awarded as the first men’s tournament since Infantino became president of FIFA in 2016. The expansion was celebrated by many smaller member states as it expanded their opportunities to qualify, but the billions of dollars in additional revenue it generated led many fans and commentators to believe that the move We expressed concern that it would reduce the quality of the event.
Infantino predicts the 2026 World Cup will produce record-breaking paydays. FIFA has budgeted to book his $11 billion in earnings over his four-year cycle through 2026.
One way to mitigate the impact of longer tournaments is to shorten their preparation period. Previously, qualifying teams took him three weeks. (That period was shortened to a week before his event in Qatar, November and he was held for the first time in December, placing it at the center of the season for many domestic leagues.)
Montagliani said the call-up window will almost certainly be reduced to ensure the tournament stays within the planned window before Tuesday’s change.
Montagliani has previously questioned whether the health implications for players would be as serious as the players’ union warned.
“There’s only one game left,” he said, adding, “I think most teams will take it.”
There is also more clarity about the future hosts of the 2030 World Cup. Morocco said it will participate in European tenders that include Spain, Portugal and Ukraine. The addition of Morocco should help Europeans secure important votes from African members in a race against a multinational offer from South America and a debated Saudi-led bid that includes Egypt and Greece.
Morocco is one of the most influential African nations in FIFA’s orbit, losing back-to-back World Cup bids. Its determination to move forward in another attempt to host a tournament grew when its national team became the first team from the African continent to reach the semi-finals in Qatar.
FIFA also made other tournament decisions at the conference. After FIFA announced it had agreed to a new 32-team World Cup for clubs, a quadrennial event to be held for the first time in 2025, a new 32-team World Cup for clubs for the winners of the regional championships. An annual tournament will be created. The hosts have yet to be named, but the teams will be divided into eight groups of four, with the top two teams from each group advancing to a single-elimination event.
Where did FIFA go extra on the calendar for the 64-match Club World Cup, which will last longer than the Confederations Cup, the little-loved national team competition since the last tournament was held in Russia in 2017? It is unknown if a suitable space will be found.
