Lléo wrote:

Not a done deal, no, but "under consideration" it would seem.

Like most of FIFA's ideas under Infantino, a silly idea... but
all about the money and his ego, so it could happen.

Footballers are already playing too many matches each season.
Which might be why so many are getting injured. Players would
get no rest at all if FIFA had their way.

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Lléo <llb.moura@gmail.com> wrote:

Not a done deal, no, but "under consideration" it would seem.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/mar/06/fifa-will-consider-expanding-world-cup-to-64-teams-for-2030-tournament

To be honest, 48 or 64 teams? Not much difference, in my humble opinion,
it is way too much in either case, and if anything at least a 64-team tournament lends itself to formats that don't require things like "best thirds" advancing or groups of three teams.

If this thing indeed comes off, what could the groups look like? Given
that tiers are based on FIFA rankings and assuming the top 64 qualifying
to it for simplicity's sake, here's what the pools for the draw could
look like, based on today's rankings:

1: Argentina, France, Spain, England, Brasil, Portugal, Netherlands,
Belgium, Italy, Germany, Uruguay, Colombia, Croatia, Morocco, Japan,
United States

2: Senegal, Iran, Mexico, Switzerland, Denmark, Austria, South Korea, Ecuador, Ukraine, Australia, Sweden, Turkey, Wales, Hungary, Canada, Serbia

3: Egypt, Russia, Poland, Panama, Algeria, Romania, Greece, Peru,
Slovakia, Czechia, Norway, Nigeria, Scotland, Ivory Coast, Venezuela, Qatar

4: Cameroon, Chile, Mali, Tunisia, Paraguay, Costa Rica, Slovenia, Iraq, South Africa, Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia, Ireland, Congo DR, Jamaica,
United Arab Emirates, Jordan

With the next in line being the likes of Albania, North Macedonia,
Georgia or Finland for UEFA; Bolivia for Conmebol; Honduras, El
Salvador, Haiti or Curaçao for Concacaf; Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Ghana
or Guinea for CAF; Oman, Bahrain, China or Syria for AFC, and of course
the entirety of OFC.

In the four tiers above, the only ones that haven't ever been to a WC
thus far are Venezuela, Mali, Uzbekistan and Jordan, and the ones that
have been absent from the tournament for the most time are Congo DR
(played as Zaire in 1974), Hungary and Iraq (both last played in 1986),
if I'm not missing anything.

Confederation distribution: UEFA 28, CAF 11, AFC 10, Conmebol 9,
Concacaf 6, OFC 0. A bit over half of UEFA

Not really different from Euro qualifying then, and
a couple of bigger teams (like the Netherlands in 2016) have sat one out.


Ciao,
Werner

and almost everyone from
Conmebol. But whatever way they split the berths, for the big sides and
a number of others, qualifying would become a mere formality.

Best regards,

Lléo

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With the next in line being the likes of Albania, North Macedonia,
Georgia or Finland for UEFA; Bolivia for Conmebol; Honduras, El
Salvador, Haiti or Curaçao for Concacaf; Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Ghana
or Guinea for CAF; Oman, Bahrain, China or Syria for AFC, and of course
the entirety of OFC.

In the four tiers above, the only ones that haven't ever been to a WC
thus far are Venezuela, Mali, Uzbekistan and Jordan, and the ones that
have been absent from the tournament for the most time are Congo DR
(played as Zaire in 1974), Hungary and Iraq (both last played in 1986),
if I'm not missing anything.

Confederation distribution: UEFA 28, CAF 11, AFC 10, Conmebol 9,
Concacaf 6, OFC 0. A bit over half of UEFA

Not really different from Euro qualifying then, and
a couple of bigger teams (like the Netherlands in 2016) have sat one out.

What would be the next "biggest", though? Sweden in 2022 ?

Whereas Turkey, Ukraine, and Poland - not bad teams by any means, but
certainly not names to conjure with, have all made all three tournaments
since the expansion to 24 teams.

Only thing in favour of 64 teams is that at least there is no messing
around with format, best third placed teams etc. And I suppose if they
do want to do it, a tournament co-hosted by Spain, Portugal, Morcocco,
Uruguay, Argentina, and Paraguay has no shortage of venues to host
matches. Spain alone has quite a few decent sized stadia - two in
Madrid, two in Barcelona, 3 in Sevilla, one each in Donostia, Valencia
and Bilbao, all 40 k capacity or thereabouts.

Ciao,
Werner

and almost everyone from
Conmebol. But whatever way they split the berths, for the big sides and
a number of others, qualifying would become a mere formality.


Best regards,

Lléo

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)