December 2 – FIFA are reported to be considering scrapping three-team groups at the World Cup 2026 tournament – the first with 48 teams – and sticking with the status quo of four-team groups.
FIFA had previously agreed to introduce 16 groups of three in the next competition, to be jointly hosted in the USA, Canada and Mexico, but might apparently now stage a u-turn to avoid dead rubbers and dilution of the competition.
The benefits of the four-team format have been underlined in Qatar after several group-stage games on Wednesday and Thursday went down to the wire.
Although FIFA’s official position remains unaltered, several media organisations say there have been “informal talks” in Doha about the benefits of going with 12 groups of four teams rather than 16 groups of three.
That could lead to a 104-game World Cup if the top two in each group, plus the best eight third-placed sides, go through to a 32-team knockout stage – which would mean 40 more matches than will be played at Qatar 2022.
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