Toga:
The World Cup football tournament was introduced in 1930. Since then this competition is held once every 4 years. The World Cup was not held in 1942 and 1946 due to World War II.
Argentina won the 22nd World Cup which ended yesterday in Qatar. Defeated defending champions France in the final.
The next World Cup will be jointly hosted by 3 countries in the North American continent namely Canada, Mexico and the United States. For the first time, 3 countries are going to host the tournament. The tournament format of this World Cup, which will be held in the months of June-July 2026, has been changed.
48 countries are participating in it. An additional 16 teams have been added. The 3 host nations will play directly. The remaining 45 teams will qualify through qualifiers.
A total of 48 countries will be divided into 16 divisions. There will be 3 teams in each division. At the end of the league 2 teams from each division will advance to the 2nd round which is the knockout round. 32 countries will qualify for the knockout round. This will be followed by the 3rd round, quarter-final, semi-final and final. A total of 80 matches are being held across 16 cities. But this competition mode is not finalized yet.
The World Cup is being held in Mexico for the 3rd time. Earlier it happened in 1970 and 1986. This makes it the first country to host the World Cup for the 3rd time. The previous one in the US was in 1994. It is being held for the first time in Canada.
16 countries participated from 1954 to 1978. In 1982, it was raised to 24 countries. In 1998 the number of countries was increased to 32. The number of countries in the upcoming World Cup has been increased to 48.