Beguiled by the prospect of an expanded World Cup, FIFA didn’t seem to be that worried about staging a better World Cup. More was what mattered.
So as it rammed through a plan to boost its men’s event from 32 to an unwieldy 48 teams, FIFA quickly settled on a problematic format: 16 groups of three teams each, with the top two finishers advancing to the knockouts following a three-game round robin. Not only did that structure sap the first round of considerable drama, it might offer the two teams contesting the group stage finale incentive to collude on a mutually beneficial result.
The U.S., Mexico and Canada won the right to host the 2026 World Cup under that format. There would be 80 games—60 in the U.S. plus 10 each in Mexico and Canada. FIFA argued at the time that the tournament’s “footprint” hadn’t changed. It would be staged across the same number of days as the 32-team World Cup. Semifinalists would still play seven matches.
