FIFA has announced that the 2026 men’s World Cup in North America will be expanded to 12 groups of four teams instead of the original 8 groups.
The World football governing body made the announcement on Tuesday, March 14.
The next World Cup will be hosted by the Untied States, Canada and Mexico, and will also be the first to feature 48 teams, a sharp increase from the 32 at last year’s tournament in Qatar.
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It therefore means that there will be 104 matches played, a massive rise compared to the 64 games played in 2022 and an increase even on the original plan that 2026 World Cup would feature 80 matches.
The initial plan for 2026 was for 16 groups of three teams, from which the top two countries would make it to the last 32
However, the new plan means the top two in the each group will go through to the knockout round along with the eight best third- placed side in the group.
As a result, the finalists, and the teams finishing third and fourth, will play a total of eight games instead of the current seven.
This decision came after an entertaining group stage at Qatar 2022, this convince FIFA that a rethink to it’s original plan they had for the 2026 World Cup.
Tuesday’s decision was announced following a FIFA Council meeting in the Rwandan capital Kigali, there it was also confirmed that the next men’s World Cup final will be played on Sunday, July 19, 2026.
According to FIFA, the total number of days from when clubs must stop playing and release players for international duty, and the final, would be 56, identical to the previous three tournament
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Expanding the World Cup had been a priority for Infantino following his election in 2016, when he took over from Sepp Blatter at the head of world football.
The number of venues for the 2026 finals will double, from eight stadiums in Qatar last year to 16.
Eleven venues will be in the USA, with three in Mexico and two in Canada.
FIFA also projected a huge increase in revenues in the four-year cycle leading up to 2026, up to $11 billion from $7.5 billion in the four years up to 2022.
