In four years, the 2026 World Cup, organized in North America and Mexico, will lose some of its prestige by bringing together nearly fifty countries.
Par Thibaut Geffrotin
© IVAN PISARENKO / AFP
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QLet critics be reassured: four years after the most controversial World Cup in Qatar, there will be controversy when the twenty-sixth edition of the World Cup begins. This one, disputed in North America (United States, Canada, Mexico), will bring together for the first time… forty-eight teams! A decision voted unanimously by the Council of Elders of Fifa in 2017, and pushed by the president of the international body Gianni Infantino. A far cry from the beginnings of the World Cup, invented by the Frenchman Jules Rimet, which brought together thirteen nations in 1930, most of whom had joined Uruguay by boat.
Eminently political, this enlargement of the World Cup favors above all the continents hitherto less represented in the quotas: Africa goes from 5 to 9 places, Oceania obtains for the first time a direct place, Concacaf (North America, Central and Caribbean), from 3 to 6, and Asia doubled their quota (from 4 to 8). For Europe, this does not change much (16 places instead of 13).
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If this new format is intended to further multiply the income of Fifa, with more matches, more countries concerned and therefore more viewers, it also risks distorting the competition by depriving it of interest during the first two weeks.
A grotesque regulation, bordering on the absurd
Indeed, the number of nations forced Fifa to deconstruct the system in place since 1998 (eight groups of four, then knockout matches from the round of 16). Hold on tight: in 2026, the 44 nations will be divided into 16 groups of 3 teams. From pool A to pool P (!), the first two teams will qualify for the round of 16, played in a dry match. But that’s not all: in 2026, no game can end in a draw. Even in the group stage! Systematically, the two teams will have to play an extension of 2 x 15 minutes (and possibly, penalties). Fifa justifies this decision by the fear of possible arrangements between two nations in the event of a situation where a draw would qualify the two teams.
Let’s sum up: 44 nations, 80 matches, and pointless overtime. At the World Cup in Russia, nine group matches ended in a draw. Remember the soporific France-Denmark of 2018: who would have liked to see 30 more minutes?
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In addition to its complex format, the 48-team World Cup risks suffering from the disparity between nations. Thus, following a principle as old as football, the weakest will take refuge in front of their surface and the spectators will be bored in front of a good package of closed matches. In the rare cases where little Thumb will play eye to eye with a world champion, he risks receiving a correction to the river score of a tennis match. This phenomenon had already been noted during Euro 2016 (which went from 16 to 24 teams), which suffered from a particularly low goal average. So let’s enjoy 2022…