Following a meeting of the FIFA Council on Tuesday in Kigali, Rwanda, it has been decided that the 2026 World Cup will be the first to ever feature 48 teams.
The tournament, which will have 104 games, will be jointly hosted by the US, Canada, and Mexico.
According to The Guardian, the FIFA Council will meet in Kigali today and is anticipated to approve the new format.
🚨 The FIFA council are set to approve the new format of the 2026 World Cup:
– 48 teams (16 European)
– 16 host cities
– 12 groups of 4
– Top 2 qualify + 8 best third-placed teams
– Last 32 knock-out round→ 104 TOTAL GAMES 😨
(Source: @David_Ornstein) pic.twitter.com/XMdbTg7Lgm
— Transfer News Live (@DeadlineDayLive) March 14, 2023
Instead of the 16 groups of three teams that were originally proposed, the new World Cup format will feature 12 groups of four teams.
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Eight of the top third-place teams will also advance to the knockout stage along with the group’s winners and runners-up.
The 2026 World Cup will feature a new round of 32 stage as a result of the tournament’s expansion.
There will be more matches at the 2026 World Cup than there were at the first five World Cups combined:
𝟭𝟵𝟯𝟬, 𝟭𝟵𝟯𝟰, 𝟭𝟵𝟯𝟴, 𝟭𝟵𝟱𝟬, 𝟭𝟵𝟱𝟰: 101 matches
𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲: 104 matches pic.twitter.com/ZqXavYnHFw
— The Athletic | Football (@TheAthleticFC) March 14, 2023
“The preparation period for 2026 between a player’s release and his country’s first match will be about two weeks, double what was in place for the finals in Qatar last year, but shorter than the previous two tournaments,” The Guardian reports.
“The thrilling end to the group phase in Qatar has persuaded Fifa to stick with four-team pools and there had also been integrity concerns raised over three-team groups because teams would be unable to complete the group at the same time, raising the possibility of results being engineered.”
Ghana has so far participated in four World Cup tournaments, with the Black Stars’ last appearance coming at Qatar 2022.
