FIFA are reportedly considering major alterations to their future plans for the World Cup after the on-pitch success of the latest edition.
The tournament in Qatar is almost over with France and Argentina set to compete for the trophy at the Lusail Stadium on Sunday afternoon. It remains to be seen who will be celebrating their third world title come the final whistle but one thing that is sure is that the current edition is the final version of the World Cup in its current iteration.
The next World Cup is set to take place in the USA, Canada and Mexico in 2026 with more teams competing for world football’s greatest prize. FIFA have already announced that 48 teams are set to be welcomed to the next tournament.
The governing body also had plans to alter the way the group stages worked with there set to be 16 groups of three nations. That would see two teams from each group progressing to the knockout rounds. However, the success of Qatar has seen concern arise.
There are apparently worries that matches in the group stages could become “dangerously dull” and that there could be unsporting behaviour whilst the groups were rounded off. With it not being possible for all of the final group matches to be played at the same time, there are concerns that two sides could play for a suitable result for the two of them - leaving the third side in the group helpless without being able to play.
FIFA vice president Victor Montagliani has already admitted to concern over the staging of the next tournament. Speaking ahead of the tournament in Qatar, he said: “It's an issue that has been raised.”
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In an effort to avoid those issues, a few group stage alternatives have already apparently been devised. As per former Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger and current FIFA’s head of football development, one potential route they could go down is 12 groups of four teams with the best third placed teams also securing a place in the knockout stages of the next World Cup.
However, there appears to be a more viable option for FIFA and that is the World Cup being split into two halves. That will see 24 teams separated, with each half having six groups of four teams.
That would eventually see the winners of each half of the bracket eventually meet in the final with a huge amount of games having been played. During the latest edition in Qatar, 64 games were scheduled over a period of 29 days.
The current format for the 2026 World Cup would see that increase considerably to 80 games in 32 matches. The second potential model though would see that leap even higher to 104 matches played throughout the tournament.
It remains to be seen how players and teams would respond to those potential changes but it has been suggested that the second of the ideas would be more appealing to FIFA considering the stark increase in TV revenue.
