Arunava about Football A look at football & the world through my eyes!
Related Articles
The current FIFA president Gianni Infantino was elected earlier this year with a promise of an expanded FIFA World Cup to allow more nations to participate in the biggest and most important football tournament for national teams.
But what should we think about the plans?
I have two hearts beating in my chest. The German in me thinks, why on earth is the FIFA considering to destroy the working model of a 32 nation FIFA World Cup, while the Indian in me thinks its a great opportunity for smaller footballing nations to get a chance to play in the FIFA World Cup.
But what plans are being considered by FIFA?
FIFA president Gianni Infantino got elected with the promise of a bigger FIFA World Cup. The number of 40 participants was mentioned then but since then there have been discussions and deliberations within FIFA about the right size for an expanded FIFA World Cup.
One issue that FIFA needs to consider is that it should keep the number of maximum matches at seven for the subsequent champions over the duration of the complete tournament.
The idea of a 40 team FIFA World Cup is therefore a problem as whatever format one chooses, it would mean more than a maximum of seven matches except for having pre-qualifiers for teams who just about made it to the FIFA World Cup.
Then came the idea of why not expand the FIFA World Cup to a 48 teams tournament with 16 groups of three teams each and an additional Round of 32 ahead of the pre-quarterfinals, quarterfinals, semifinals and the big final.
This way the eventual champions would play the maximum seven matches over the course of the tournament, but 16 additional nations could participate and make the FIFA World Cup an even bigger event and more inclusive for nations who normally are not part of it or miss out my just a whisker.
It will be interesting to see how the FIFA Council decides, if it agrees to an expanded FIFA World Cup and if yes, what format and size.
