July 8, 2018
WORLD:
Qatar Open To Larger Tournament (The Associated Press, July 08, 2018)
One option stands out. A playoff round involving 32 nations from which 16 winners would join 16 seeded teams in a traditional group stage.That format was rejected in January 2017 by FIFA's ruling council when it agreed to expand the World Cup. The 48 teams at the 2026 edition, which is set to be staged in the United States, Canada and Mexico, will play in 16 groups of three teams.FIFA said last year that the playoff round idea was disliked because sudden-death losers would feel they were going home before the real World Cup started with 32 teams.A further barrier to 48 teams in Qatar is any format would add to the 28-day World Cup program already agreed for November-December 2022, which is already a departure from the regular mid-year schedule.Europe's top leagues have said it would be unacceptable for them to lose another weekend of fixtures in November to add extra World Cup playing days.
Make it a 64 team final, but the entire tournament, including qualifiers, knock-out games, hosted by the higher seeded team.
Posted by Orrin Judd at July 8, 2018 6:23 AM