Having just delivered the most exciting group stage ever seen at a World Cup, with a tried and tested format that keeps hundreds of millions of fans enthralled, FIFA now faces the prospect of ripping it all up.
It means world football's governing body are re-thinking the format for the next World Cup as their original plans to have 16 groups of three teams in the first phase, with two from each advancing to the next stage, now look dangerously dull, as well as potentially courting unsporting behaviour.
FIFA conceded earlier this year they were concerned about the possibility of contrived results where two teams could engineer a positive result for both, that would eliminate the third group team not playing. "It's an issue that has been raised," said FIFA vice president Victor Montagliani in March. Alternative formats are now on the table, with the FIFA Council, the organization's all-powerful cabinet, to decide next year.
Given how dramatic and exciting some of the four-team groups were concluded in Qatar, that seems a more viable proposition.But that will mean a substantive increase in the number of games. The 32-team World Cup in Qatar has a total of 64, completed in 29 days, and, for now, the 2026 finals will be 80 games over 32 days.
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