The new World Cup: more games, more money, more stress

The already gigantic World Cup 2026 will be even bigger. At the finals in the USA, Canada and Mexico, with 48 nations for the first time, a total of 104 games will be kicked off in a new format in accordance with a FIFA decision in Kigali, 40 more than at the previous World Cups since 1998. The 2026 World Cup final was set by the Council during the session in Rwanda on July 19.

The new format provides for twelve groups of four in the preliminary round, which already accounts for 72 games. The first and second in the group as well as the eight best third in the group advance. This is followed by 32 more games. At the end of 2022, the last and compact finals in Qatar were held in 29 days, world champions Argentina needed seven games to win the title. For the individual teams, the format change will only add a maximum of one match.

The World Cup period (tournament plus preparation phase) estimated in the football calendar is 56 days in the range of the finals in 2010, 2014 and 2018. The date for the opening game has not yet been set, but due to the high number of games a good 40 tournament days may be necessary.

So far it had been expected that the 48 nations would play in 16 groups of three in the preliminary round in just under three and a half years. This format alone would have meant increasing the previous 64 World Cup games (with 32 participants) to 80 games. However, this mode has already been criticized several times because of the higher risk of collusion, because one nation in the group must be free of play.

From an economic point of view, FIFA should expect significantly more money due to the higher number of TV broadcasts. For the World Cup cycle from 2023 to 2026, a total of eleven billion US dollars (10.27 billion euros) had been calculated. From 2019 to 2022, the total revenue was 7.568 billion US dollars (approx. 7.07 billion euros), as FIFA officially announced.

The 2026 World Cup was awarded to the three organizers in 2018, the increase from 32 to 48 nations had already been decided in January 2017. FIFA President Gianni Infantino had already praised the format with groups of four as a great success in Qatar. “Here the groups of four were absolutely unbelievable, in the sense that until the last minute of the last game it was not clear who would go through,” said the Swiss.

Mini club tournament from 2025

In addition to the new Club World Cup, the world football association FIFA is planning another club competition with 32 teams every four years.

From 2025 there will be an annual mini-tournament for the winners of the major competitions in the confederations – the Champions League winner from Europe will take part. FIFA’s decision-making body, the FIFA Council, agreed on a “strategic concept” for this in Kigali.

The winner of the European premier class is seeded for the final game, the opponent is the winner of the play-offs of the other continental winners. Further details are to be published soon.

The actual Club World Cup, which will be held in Saudi Arabia in 2023 in the old mini format, had been reformed in recent months. Europe will receive twelve starting places, South America six, Asia, Africa and the combination of North and Central America and the Caribbean four each, Oceania one. The host country is also firmly involved.

From Europe, the winners of the Champions League of the past four years are sure to be there, the other places will be awarded according to a ranking from the same period.