World Cup 2026 – the only tournament with 48 teams?

As of: June 10, 2026 • 3:52 p.m

48 teams and 104 games at the 2026 World Cup mean unexpected calculations and problematic sporting situations. The mode was the result of long negotiations – and could soon be history again.

There will be 104 games at the 2026 World Cup, 72 of which will be group games. This means that there will be more group games at the 2026 World Cup than there were total games in the mode valid from the 1998 World Cup to the 2022 World Cup. The total there was 64 games. It takes 72 games to determine which 16 of the 48 teams will be eliminated in the preliminary round.

How did FIFA come up with this mode? The first answers to this question were found in 2015.

World Cup expansion should make FIFA reforms palatable to officials

The big FIFA crisis was in full swing at that time. Numerous officials in a luxury hotel in Zurich were arrested at the request of the US justice system. At that time, FIFA was supposed to be reformed, with a separation of powers, term limits, fewer positions and a ban on double awarding of World Cup tournaments. The alleged goal was to prevent new corruption scandals and improve association management.

But even though numerous handcuffs had just clicked in the FIFA cosmos, not all officials liked these reforms; an expansion of the World Cup should, as so often in the history of the association, soften these people’s spirits. An internal analysis by FIFA showed at the time that the tournament with 32 teams was the best sporting format. But an expansion offered the prospect of more income, most of which would then be distributed to the associations – so the expansion was also a price for the officials’ approval of the reforms.

The discussion: 40 or 48 teams – and in what format?

An initial idea that current FIFA President Gianni Infantino supported in his 2015 election campaign was an expansion to 40 teams. Eight groups of five or ten groups of four were considered possible scenarios. But an additional step quickly came, which was then decided in 2017: 48 teams should play from 2026.

There were two options here, each of which would have meant a tournament with 80 games:

FIFA initially officially decided on the second model. The advantage: no player would have had more workload and the number of games per player would have remained the same. But then it became clear that this was a sporting problem: If three teams play in a group and two advance, two teams can theoretically agree on the last match day so that both advance.

This meant that a larger solution was needed: 48 teams should now play in twelve groups of four, which is the mode of the current tournament. The decision came in 2023. And in 2024, FIFA reversed a large part of the reforms with changes to the statutes that were implemented in 2016 with the help of the World Cup expansion.

Third in the group – a lot of calculations, sporting problems

An annoying consequence of the new format for fans is a lot of calculation that now comes. The eight best third-place teams in the group will also reach the knockout rounds. To answer the question of which eight groups these best third-place teams come from, there are 495 different combinations that FIFA has put together on 18 DIN A4 pages.

The principle already caused dissatisfaction at the UEFA European Championship, where the four best third-placed teams advance in the current format. Albania’s team waited several days in their training camp for a decision at the European Championships and in the end found out that they had been eliminated. Practically every team that has three points and an at least equal goal difference is further. A clear victory is usually enough.

The next step to 64 teams has long been negotiated

There is a simple solution to this: a World Cup with 64 teams. It would be a doubling of the format that was in effect from 1998 to 2022 and would mean 128 games. For comparison: a complete Bundesliga season has 306 games. But the step from 48 to 64 would be more logical than the step from 32 to 48. Only four groups would have to be added, the rule of the best third in the group would no longer exist, there would be no more workload per player – and the FIFA President would have given his electorate the next gift.

In the world of FIFA, more games mean more revenue that can be distributed among the 211 national associations. If more teams play, more association presidents will be happy and will confirm Infantino in office in 2027.

The wave has long been rolling: South America’s association boss Alejandro Dominguez called for the 2030 World Cup with 64 teams. More than the previously planned three opening games could take place in South America, Dominguez promises the big celebration to mark the 100th anniversary of the World Cup, which was first held in Uruguay in 1930 with 13 teams. If this happens, there would only have been a men’s tournament with 48 teams once.

There is still opposition from Europe and North America. But UEFA has already announced that it is revising its qualifying format for major tournaments. This does not have to be an indication of a fixed expansion – but UEFA would be prepared for it.