ISLAMABAD: The expanded 2026 men’s World Cup in North America will begin with 12 groups of 4 teams, which is a change from the initially planned format of 16 groups of three, football’s world governing body FIFA disclosed on Tuesday.
FIFA, while revealing the format for the first World Cup, said that it will feature 48 teams, up from 32 sides at the recent championship in Qatar, the “revised format mitigates” the changes of collusion and guarantees that every team plays a minimum of three matches, along with providing a balanced rest time between competing teams.
This means that at the event 104 matches will be played, a huge increase from the 64 games at last year’s tournament.
Original plan for football world cup 2026 changed
FIFA’s original plan for 2026, when the football World Cup will take place in Canada, the United States, and Mexico was for 16 groups of 3 teams, from which the top 2 would advance to a round comprising 32 teams.
The newly decided format means the top two in each group will go through the knockout round together with the 8 best third-placed teams.
Thus, the finalists, and the teams finishing third and fourth, will play a total of 8 games instead of the current 7.
The decision follows a dramatic group stage at the tournament in Qatar convinced FIFA that a rethink was needed.
“The groups of 4 have been absolutely incredible until the last minute of the last match,” FIFA president Gianni Infantino said in December 2022.
The decision on Tuesday was announced following a FIFA Council meeting in Rwanda’s capital Kigali, at which it was confirmed that the upcoming men’s football World Cup final will be played on Sunday, July 19, 2026.
Infantino will likely be waved in for a new 4-year term as president as he stands unopposed for re-election at the FIFA Congress on Thursday.
