with statementThe 2026 FIFA World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada will feature a record 104 matches. who reports the New York Times based on multiple sources. FIFA plans to announce it on Tuesday at a congress in Kigali, where President Gianni Infantino will be re-elected on Thursday.
The next World Cup will not have 32 but 48 participants. FIFA initially wanted to divide all national teams into sixteen groups of three, but the world football association would now stick to groups of four teams.
This would bring the number of matches to 104, 40 more than the last World Cup in Qatar, which lasted 29 days. The 2026 World Cup would have been canceled for 40 days.
At the World Cup in Qatar, Infantino was very happy with the four-team group system. ,,In many groups, it remained exciting until the last minute,” he said. FIFA can earn much more with the expansion of the World Cup. The world football association expects a turnover of 11 billion euros over the next four years, almost 4 billion more than in the cycle preceding the World Cup in Qatar.
Survey
It’s great that the World Cup in 2026 has no less than 48 participants and 104 matches
- Totally ok, watch a lot of football in the summer! (9%)
- Disagree, commercial choice and wrong FIFA but advantage (55%)
- Half of these countries have nothing to do with the World Cup (36%)
Free and unlimited access to Showbytes? That can!
Log in or create an account and don’t miss anything from the stars.
“Introvert. Avid gamer. Wannabe beer advocate. Subtly charming zombie junkie. Social media trailblazer. Web scholar.”