The next World Cup format sounds horrendous

TeaCider said:
The simplest solution is to just play more games in the current format.

If you're going to shoehorn more countries in, more games is the price you have to pay.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1600532736237871107

When the arch-d*ckhead is coming out with comments like that, I think there's a strong chance they'll stick with the current format.
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The easiest way would be the winners of each group of 4 go through, plus the best 4 in second place. That would take you to the knockout last 16.
 
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Peppery_John said:
The easiest way would be the winners of each group of 4 go through, plus the best 4 in second place. That would take you to the knockout last 16.
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If we've got to have 48 teams, I think this is about as good a solution as I've heard.

I don't think it's perfect:
It still requires 24 matches more than the 16x3 format. The reason for 16x3 was an appeasement of powerful federations who were concerned about length of tournament/number of games. Infantino might currently, rightly, recognise the superiority of 4 team groups, but at some point he will get a reminder of why they went for 3 in the first place.
4 second placed teams isn't too bad, but it will still lead to more dead rubbers than the current format.

I'd still prefer 32 teams with expanded inter-continental playoffs to offer emerging continents more opportunity. The likes of Wales and even Serbia will not find two legged home/away ties against the likes of Egypt and Nigeria easy. I don't think Asia and North America have the strength in depth of Africa, but if their teams develop sufficiently, they will eventually trouble European teams and earn their place.
 
I honestly wouldn't be shocked if they ended up having 12 tables of 4, and increasing the KO games by 1, so the top 2 of each group definitely go through (24 teams) and then the next best 8 teams who each finish 3rd with the most points.

Meaning the first KO round is the round of 32.

It will obviously mean in total there are: 72 group games, up from 48.
Plus an additional 16 KO ties.

An extra 40 games in total on top of the current format? It seems far too much.

But that would be huge in terms of revenue for FIFA - which is their biggest aim.
 
Marvanelli said:
I honestly wouldn't be shocked if they ended up having 12 tables of 4, and increasing the KO games by 1, so the top 2 of each group definitely go through (24 teams) and then the next best 8 teams who each finish 3rd with the most points.

Meaning the first KO round is the round of 32.

It will obviously mean in total there are: 72 group games, up from 48.
Plus an additional 16 KO ties.

An extra 40 games in total on top of the current format? It seems far too much.

But that would be huge in terms of revenue for FIFA - which is their biggest aim.
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I can't see them playing 72 matches in order to eliminate 16 teams tbh.

Plus having 3rd placed qualifiers has led to very conservative tactics in the past, eg Italia 90
 
Marvanelli said:
I honestly wouldn't be shocked if they ended up having 12 tables of 4, and increasing the KO games by 1, so the top 2 of each group definitely go through (24 teams) and then the next best 8 teams who each finish 3rd with the most points.

Meaning the first KO round is the round of 32.

It will obviously mean in total there are: 72 group games, up from 48.
Plus an additional 16 KO ties.

An extra 40 games in total on top of the current format? It seems far too much.

But that would be huge in terms of revenue for FIFA - which is their biggest aim.
Click to expand...
I suppose this would give teams like Germany who don't normally qualify for the knockout stages a chance ;) .
 
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