FIFA Expand World Cup to 48 Teams

[Rebajlo]

As the title says...

http://www.fifa.com/about-fifa/news...pansion-of-the-fifa-world-cuptm--2863100.html

It seems that FIFA won't stop at anything to ensure China and Qatar regularly appear in the finals tournament...

Just when I thought that soccer couldn't possibly sink any lower:

"...a new tournament format with the 48 national teams split into 16 groups of three. The top two teams from each group will then advance to a 32-team knockout stage."

Well, I'm sure that particular format shan't throw up any dead matches or other "complications"...

 

[Ambrose]

As the title says...

http://www.fifa.com/about-fifa/news...pansion-of-the-fifa-world-cuptm--2863100.html

It seems that FIFA won't stop at anything to ensure China and Qatar regularly appear in the finals tournament...

Just when I thought that soccer couldn't possibly sink any lower:

"...a new tournament format with the 48 national teams split into 16 groups of three. The top two teams from each group will then advance to a 32-team knockout stage."

Well, I'm sure that particular format shan't throw up any dead matches or other "complications"...

Fifa will have the good Europeans knocking each other off early while the cherished will face each other to allow greater advancement and equality.

 

[Jack Lambert]

This is absolutely ridiculous. The group stage is not even going to matter anymore. Even the most brainwashed of football fans are calling this a complete joke. The qualification tournaments will mean nothing either. Is South America going to get all 10 of its teams in?

 

[ThePhilosopher]

It seems that FIFA won't stop at anything to ensure China and Qatar regularly appear in the finals tournament...

That seems to be the intent.The group stages have clearly lost all purpose now and I can foresee rigged groups to ensure that more colored teams go through.I've quit watching Football for good for this very reason.The elite jews and goys have destroyed the game beyond all recognition.

 

[Jack Lambert]

That seems to be the intent.The group stages have clearly lost all purpose now and I can foresee rigged groups to ensure that more colored teams go through.I've quit watching Football for good for this very reason.The elite jews and goys have destroyed the game beyond all recognition.

I'm not the most "hardcore" football fan, but have enjoyed watching Germany and a lot of the other whiter club teams, especially after I got into the sport after the 2010 World Cup. Unfortunately, nearly every team has become a cesspool, even formerly majority white teams like Bayern Munich for instance. I've barely watched any matches this year. Germany continuing to fill their roster up with undeserving blacks and Turks has helped drive me away from watching even faster.

 

[Rebajlo]

One of the sixteen additional finals’ berths must surely be allocated to piss-weak Oceania. I therefore wouldn’t be surprised if we begin to hear talk of Australia returning to the OFC. Such a proposition would ostensibly be rationalised as “strengthening” Oceania to ensure that New Zealand do not automatically qualify every four years. But in reality, the Chinese simply wish to remove a strong (by paltry Asian standards…) rival in order to make their own pathetic national team’s path to qualification even easier.

It will be interesting to see how many extra places the AFC shall be granted. Don’t be astonished if the Asian contingent increases by four.

Chinese and Gulf Arab money is laying waste to football at a terrifyingly rapid tempo…

 

[Matra2]

I laughed when I heard this. It's so farcical what else can you do? As others have said qualifying will be meaningless for the big teams just like last year's Euro championship qualifying. They are letting so many teams in even Scotland may now have a chance. Well, probably not. I expect them to mostly add Asian and African countries.

I'm still not convinced they'll even make it to Qatar. If they do it has disaster potential. Maybe by 2026 the World Cup will be so discredited it won't matter much anyway.

 

[Rebajlo]

I'm still not convinced they'll even make it to Qatar. If they do it has disaster potential. Maybe by 2026 the World Cup will be so discredited it won't matter much anyway.

Matra2 -

Doesn't this kind of talk just fill You with confidence?

"Replacing penalty shootouts with eight- second run-ups.

Introducing orange cards to send players off for 10 minutes.

Scrapping offside."

http://www.news.com.au/sport/footba...r/news-story/bc07a260c94ee47735724811fcc40a54

 

[ThePhilosopher]

Matra2 -

Doesn't this kind of talk just fill You with confidence?

"Replacing penalty shootouts with eight- second run-ups.

Introducing orange cards to send players off for 10 minutes.

Scrapping offside."

http://www.news.com.au/sport/footba...r/news-story/bc07a260c94ee47735724811fcc40a54

Weren't offsides introduced to stop ridiculous things like players sneaking up from behind the goalkeeper?Something tells me this move will suit weak teams and inferior players more.

Rather than burdening players with an additional 30 minutes of action when cup games are level after 90 minutes, Van Basten is suggesting going straight to penalties.

This will seriously hamper the quality of football on display as there will be even more teams just parking the bus from the get go.But at the same I do agree that something needs to be done as the action in extra time is normally boring and by the end the players are mostly finished.

 

[Rebajlo]

UEFA have requested that three of the additional twelve World Cup berths be allocated to European nations. This would lift the number of European teams from thirteen to sixteen and leave nine places to be divided among the remaining confederations. But the proposed changes mean that European teams would form a smaller proportion of the finalists than they do now. UEFA’s thirteen spots in the current 32 team format equals 40.6 % of the total but sixteen spots in a 48 team format equates to only one third.

Naturally, Africa and Asia shall gain the most from this highly transparent “expansion”, as both continents’ finals contingents will virtually double.

http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/38918984

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/jan/10/48-team-world-cup-fifa-plan-2026

 

[Matra2]

UEFA have requested that three of the additional twelve World Cup berths be allocated to European nations. This would lift the number of European teams from thirteen to sixteen and leave nine places to be divided among the remaining confederations. But the proposed changes mean that European teams would form a smaller proportion of the finalists than they do now.

Obviously UEFA's people haven't been reading up on Trumpian negotiating tactics. You don't begin asking for the minimum and having a smaller proportion of the finalists even if FIFA agrees entirely to your demands. You start by saying "we want all sixteen new places and we want CAF (Confederation of African Football) and AFC (Asian Football Confederation) to pay for them". When FIFA balks at that you then say "okay, well, let's see if we can meet half way otherwise maybe we'll just hold the Euro every two years instead of going to the World Cup or even make a side deal with CONMEBOL and CONCACAF". After all, UEFA having all the most important members, other than Argentina, Brazil, and for money purposes the US, should have all the leverage.

Of course, we all know they won't use that leverage because everybody involved in football is corrupt to the core. They'll happily sell out their own side for personal gain or even just to virtue signal about how nice they are to the poor non-Europeans.