According to President Yin's vision, there will be 1 and 48 teams participating in the 2026 World Cup, among which 32 teams will play against each other, and 16 and the rest 16 teams will enter the group stage. 2. Maintain the current size of 32 teams and continue to use the existing competition system, with 4 teams and 8 groups; 3. Forty teams participated in the competition, divided into 10 group or 8 groups.
Some British media broke the news because the president planned to make a final decision at the FIFA General Assembly in June 20 17.
Among the above three options, option 2 needs no explanation, while option 3 is actually President Pu's idea. As early as 20 13, 1 1, President Pu solemnly introduced this scheme: 40 teams were divided into 8 groups, instead of 4 teams in each group, 5 teams in each group, and the top two teams in each group qualified, and the elimination stage remained unchanged. From this point of view, the proposal of 1 must be because the chairman likes it, and it must also be because the chairman is pushing it hard.
Obviously, the chairman's consideration is that the scheme of 1 not only respects the current top 32 competition system, but also can increase the number of teams of 16 to take care of many Asian and African member countries. However, can adding a knockout round before the top 32 group match really make everyone happy?
First of all, 48 teams from all continents have gone through a long qualifying journey. What criteria are used to determine which 16 teams can directly advance to the top 32 group matches? Probably the last FIFA ranking in the qualifiers. In other words, by then, the top 16 teams will directly enter the top 32 group matches, and the remaining 32 teams will participate in the one-round confrontation envisaged by the president.
Then, a series of questions emerged. Is the envisaged round of confrontation going to the host country of the World Cup? Or should we use home and away rounds like the existing intercontinental play-offs? More importantly, the eliminated 16 team is absolutely crying! The babies worked hard to enter the World Cup from deus ex, the qualifiers of all continents, cheering and jumping for joy, and then packed up and left before it got hot? Oh, my God, who wrote this damn script?
Throughout the world, the competition system like Scheme 1 is only adopted in the American College Basketball Championship at present. Every March, 68 teams participate in the NCAA basketball championship held in the United States. First of all, the last eight teams will kill each other and be eliminated in a single game. The four winning teams will enter the next round of elimination consisting of 64 teams.
However, the biggest difference between the American NCAA basketball championship and the World Cup is that the former is held on time every year, while the latter is held only once every four years. We have reason to believe that no matter which team 16 is willing to stay in the World Cup Hall for only 90 minutes and then go home! Because, Madam President, it's too simple, isn't it?
Finally, from the standpoint of ordinary fans, every expansion of the World Cup will inevitably bring the trouble that the team is full and the quality of the game will drop obviously! So, what is the importance of seat allocation? Or is the quality of the World Cup more important? I believe many viewers still remember the scene of a senior official of FIFA in Africa falling asleep in the stands in the 2006 World Cup group match, and there were many empty stands in the 20 10 World Cup group match. . .