The World Cup is going to be revamped by FIFA for the 2026 competition after a proposal was backed for 48 teams to compete in the finals.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino's plans for the tournament's expansion from 32 countries to 48 received approval from delegates in Zurich on Tuesday, though many details are still yet to be ironed out.
Here we look at the format for the bigger World Cup finals.
HOW WILL IT WORK?
The headline is that the 48 teams will be divided into 16 groups of three. From there, the top two countries will progress to a round-of-32 knockout stage, an additional phase from the format that is currently in place. Infantino accentuated the positives in his press conference - that the competition will still last 32 days and that the eventual winners will play a maximum of seven games, as they do now. The only difference being one of those matches will be in a knockout situation, rather than an extra group game.
WHERE WILL THE EXTRA COUNTRIES COME FROM?
Where the 16 extra slots will be assigned was not determined on Tuesday, though Infantino said it will be "looked at speedily". For the 2018 tournament in Russia, European nations will account for 13 of the 32 spots, five will come from Africa, four or five from South America and Asia, three or four from North America, while Oceania only has one place if that country wins a play-off contest and one is reserved for the hosts. Infantino hinted African countries will be big benefactors, due to the fact the Confederation of African Football has only one fewer member than UEFA, while confirming each confederation will definitely have more representatives. Nations in Oceania can therefore expect to be guaranteed a berth.
HOW WILL THEY DETERMINE WHO PROGRESSES?
One of the biggest question marks surrounds how the qualification process of those slimmed-down groups will work. As Infantino admitted, in groups of three, there is a greater chance of teams finishing level on points, level on goal difference and level on goals scored. Collusion may be an issue too - with teams possibly knowing scenarios which could see them both progress before their final group match. Therefore a number of tie-breaking scenarios are under consideration, including nations' world rankings, something which would be decided prior to the tournament, and the possibility of penalty shoot-outs being introduced in the group stages.
WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME THE WORLD CUP WAS REVAMPED?
The World Cup has been steadily expanding since its inception in 1930 when 13 countries participated across 18 games. Only 16 qualified for the finals up until the 1982 edition in Spain, where 24 teams competed in a tournament which featured two group stages before the semi-finals. The current format of 32 teams has been used since the 1998 tournament in France, with eight groups of four and 16 teams heading through to the knockout rounds. But, in nine years' time, the World Cup is now set to grow to 48 teams, twice the size of the 1994 World Cup in America.
Source: PA
