The World Cup will take place for the first time with 48 teams in the coming year. Four years later it could be more.
The World Cup is the biggest tournament in football. Nations from all continents come together and play against each other to find the best team of the planet. A worldwide football festival.
But it is no longer as romantic as that sounds. Authoritarian states and rulers use the World Cup to improve the battered image. It is a money printing machine for FIFA. In the coming year, 48 teams can participate for the first time (instead of 32). More teams, more games, more money. Four years later it could be 64. At least that is what the South American Football Association (Conmebol) wants; President Alejandro Domínguez called for “dreaming”.
FIFA is open to the dream. It would be the next chapter of a development to shake a head in which officials poison the sport. Even die -hard football fans want to call FIFA: just don’t do it!
Already the bloated World Cup will present the teams with challenges in the coming year. Because hardly a country of this world wants to play a tournament with 48 teams alone, the World Cup takes place in three countries: Mexico, USA and Canada. Those who are unlucky are drawn into a group in which there are individual games between the countries. Trap traps that every national coach wants to avoid.
There is also a sixteenth finals for the first time. One more round also means a greater burden for the players. “It doesn’t matter to one game,” some may think. But it’s not just a game. In view of developments such as the Champions League reform of the UEFA and the completely renewed club World Cup at FIFA, the calendar is getting fuller. Bayern’s coach Vincent Kompany called for an upper limit a year ago: “It’s not just about the games, but also about the trips – also with the national team. It is about 75, 80 games. This is almost unrealistic.”
Three years ago in Qatar there were still 64 games, in the coming year it will be 104, in 2030 it could be 128. An absurd development at a rapid pace.