World Cup 2026

[Sutekh]

On 13 June FIFA will decide on the hosts for the 2026 World Cup.

As far as I have heard there are two bids on the table; Morocco and a joint bid from USA, Canada and Mexico

The tournament will be the first to comprise 48 teams all organised into 16 groups of 3 with 2 from each group passing on to a 32 team straight knockout phase giving a total of 80 games to watch. All a very long way from the 16 team finals we had all the way up until 1982 (and just imagine the size of the Panini collection).

LOL at FIFA criticising Morocco’s bid for the finals due to stadiums needing to be modernised and built when they happily gave it to Qatar who had nothing.

But then there’s always the high gun crime and murder rates in USA and Mexico to balance it out

Reckon it’s probably going to go to the US though (and it will largely be the US with only 20 of the 80 games scheduled to be played outside of the country).

And as for 2030, be interesting to see who England get stitched up by for that one (though if they pitch any bid to include the British Isles as a whole it might be impossible to turn down).

[Sanguine]

And as for 2030, be interesting to see who England get stitched up by for that one (though if they pitch any bid to include the British Isles as a whole it might be impossible to turn down).

Yep - the infrastructure is there and arguably the best in the world. Any bid that includes the Millenium Stadium and Hampden Park on top of all the English stadiums will be a strong one.

[genome]

You'd think, given how much of a success London 2012 was, that we'd be a shoe-in

[Sanguine]

I do think it's about time a committee at FIFA chose the World Cup venue from bids received, rather than the voting process. Like the Olympics.

[stealthpapes]

2030 should be a south american one, if you think about it for more than a split second.

[Sanguine]

2030 should be a south american one, if you think about it for more than a split second.

A joint Uruguayan/Argentinian bid is the only confirmed runner so far. And yes, it would make absolute sense.

Interestingly*, reading about the process on Wiki, I hadn't realised that early this decade FIFA formally withdrew their fixed continental rotation policy.

[RG30]

2030 should be a south american one, if you think about it for more than a split second.

A joint Uruguayan/Argentinian bid is the only confirmed runner so far. And yes, it would make absolute sense.

Interestingly*, reading about the process on Wiki, I hadn't realised that early this decade FIFA formally withdrew their fixed continental rotation policy.

It's actually a a triple bid with Paraguay now involved much to the annoyance of Argentina.

2026 will definitely go to the US bid. FIFA and Fox Sports arranged a behind closed doors renewal of the TV contract unexpectedly a few years back at a very fair price for Fox with the assumption the US winning 2026.

[Old Man Andrews]

The World Cup should go to North America, Geographically it is their turn I guess.

[Stranded]

So assuming 2026 goes to North America, I assume the US, Canada and Mexico will each get a host berth each?

Just the other 45 spots to fill then.

[Old Man Andrews]

So assuming 2026 goes to North America, I assume the US, Canada and Mexico will each get a host berth each?

Just the other 45 spots to fill then.

The 48 team World Cup has been shelved btw. https://inews.co.uk/sport/football/worl ... world-cup/

[Sutekh]

So assuming 2026 goes to North America, I assume the US, Canada and Mexico will each get a host berth each?

Just the other 45 spots to fill then.

The 48 team World Cup has been shelved btw. https://inews.co.uk/sport/football/worl ... world-cup/

That report is about the 48 team format being dumped for Qatar in 2022 which I don't think was ever serious goer anyway given that Qatar can barely cope with 32 let alone 48. As far a I'm aware 48 teams is still on for 2026.

[Old Man Andrews]

So assuming 2026 goes to North America, I assume the US, Canada and Mexico will each get a host berth each?

Just the other 45 spots to fill then.

The 48 team World Cup has been shelved btw. https://inews.co.uk/sport/football/worl ... world-cup/

That report is about the 48 team format being dumped for Qatar in 2022 which I don't think was ever serious goer anyway given that Qatar can barely cope with 32 let alone 48. As far a I'm aware 48 teams is still on for 2026.

Ugh, really hope not. The current World Cup format isn't even slightly broken, why try to fix it?

[Stranded]

The 48 team World Cup has been shelved btw. https://inews.co.uk/sport/football/worl ... world-cup/

That report is about the 48 team format being dumped for Qatar in 2022 which I don't think was ever serious goer anyway given that Qatar can barely cope with 32 let alone 48. As far a I'm aware 48 teams is still on for 2026.

Ugh, really hope not. The current World Cup format isn't even slightly broken, why try to fix it?

Money.

[Stranded]

The 48 team World Cup has been shelved btw. https://inews.co.uk/sport/football/worl ... world-cup/

That report is about the 48 team format being dumped for Qatar in 2022 which I don't think was ever serious goer anyway given that Qatar can barely cope with 32 let alone 48. As far a I'm aware 48 teams is still on for 2026.

Ugh, really hope not. The current World Cup format isn't even slightly broken, why try to fix it?

Thinking about it the only thing I would change is having a draw for the knock out stages. Probably not massively doable when played in large countries such as Russia but would work brilliantly in Qatar.

Group stage finishes. 1st place teams get to face a 2nd place side but a free draw. Could make it that you can't play the team from your group in the round of 16 if needed but I'd just go with a free draw and see what happens.

[Sutekh]

That report is about the 48 team format being dumped for Qatar in 2022 which I don't think was ever serious goer anyway given that Qatar can barely cope with 32 let alone 48. As far a I'm aware 48 teams is still on for 2026.

Ugh, really hope not. The current World Cup format isn't even slightly broken, why try to fix it?

Thinking about it the only thing I would change is having a draw for the knock out stages. Probably not massively doable when played in large countries such as Russia but would work brilliantly in Qatar.

Group stage finishes. 1st place teams get to face a 2nd place side but a free draw. Could make it that you can't play the team from your group in the round of 16 if needed but I'd just go with a free draw and see what happens.

I suspect that the reason that is not adopted in any Finals tournament is that you'd need to extend the finals to include additional rest days so that those that had most recently qualified from their groups weren't being asked to play again within a couple of days.

[Old Man Andrews]

Would anyone be against a "Consolation Cup"? The knocked out group stage teams go through and battle it out for the consolation trophy. More games, more money being spent, bigger TV audiences.

[Sutekh]

Would anyone be against a "Consolation Cup"? The knocked out group stage teams go through and battle it out for the consolation trophy. More games, more money being spent, bigger TV audiences.

In for that! England still wouldn't win anything though.

[Old Man Andrews]

Would anyone be against a "Consolation Cup"? The knocked out group stage teams go through and battle it out for the consolation trophy. More games, more money being spent, bigger TV audiences.

In for that! England still wouldn't win anything though.

Was thinking something along the lines of scrapping the 3rd place game and playing the consolation final in its place. In terms of a reward for winning what about an extra qualifying birth for their particular region for the next World Cup?

[Winston Biscuit]

By most objective metrics the United Bid is superior. Fifa’s task force, which inspected each bid across a range of infrastructural and commercial elements, gave it a score of 402.8 out of 500 (compared to 274.9 for Morocco). The North American bid also promises to generate a profit of £8.1bn for Fifa, nearly twice Morocco’s projected haul of £4.48bn.

[genome]

So we all know what's going to happen there then