FIFA to re-think 2026 format as they face spoiling winning recipe

DOHA: Having just delivered the most exciting group stage ever seen at a World Cup, with a tried and tested format that keeps hundreds of millions of fans enthralled, FIFA now faces the prospect of ripping it all up.

Instead, they risk a turgid fortnight of drab games and dead rubbers, plus the possibility of unwanted controversy, as they try to accommodate 48 teams at the 2026 edition in North America.

It means world football’s governing body are re-thinking the format for the next World Cup as their original plans to have 16 groups of three teams in the first phase, with two from each advancing to the next stage, now look dangerously dull, as well as potentially courting unsporting behaviour.

As things stand now for 2026, when Canada, Mexico and the US jointly host the World Cup, there is a risk of many ‘dead’ matches - for example if the last group game was between two teams who had already won one each and were therefore already qualified - or contrived results.

FIFA conceded earlier this year they were concerned about the possibility of contrived results where two teams could engineer a positive result for both, that would eliminate the third group team not playing. "It's an issue that has been raised," said FIFA vice president Victor Montagliani in March.

The 2026 format has the 48 teams reduced to 32 after the group phase and then the tournament becomes a knockout affair.

Alternative formats are now on the table, with the FIFA Council, the organisation's all-powerful cabinet, to decide next year.

They are, according to FIFA’s head of global football development Arsene Wenger, 12 groups of four teams, with the best third-placed teams advancing with the top two, or another option to split the World Cup into two separate