(NHC) 48 Team World Cup

[Onion]

Good or bad thing ? Will Scotland manage to qualify ? Cynical move by greedy FIFA ?

[franck sauzee]

Good or bad thing ? Will Scotland manage to qualify ? Cynical move by greedy FIFA ?

Bad thing for me. Dilutes the quality. Personally think some confederations already get too many qualifying spots as it is. CONCACAF is a total joke. Is impossible for USA and Mexico not to qualify playing against pub teams. South America also qualify 5 out of 9 teams. Granted they are all good quality but there is talk of combining the Americas and giving them more qualifying spots. Not for me. Keep it as it is for a few years longer until the rest of the world improves in quality

[Diclonius]

The world cup could be 150 teams and we'd still manage a "glorious failure", probably via drawing at Hampden against Moldova in a fight to see who finishes in the 3rd place playoff position.

[pacoluna]

Cue the predictive boring "Scotland will never qualify anyway" comments

[Scouse Hibee]

Cue the predictive boring "Scotland will never qualify anyway" comments

I'll oblige.......Scotland still wouldn't manage to qualify anyway.

[Haymaker]

It will dilute the competition sadly.

[surreyhibbie]

I'll oblige.......Scotland still wouldn't manage to qualify anyway.

well, as we are currently ranked 50-something in the world I think, its quite possible we wouldn't...

[Carheenlea]

If it can help us qualify for a World Cup, then great, but other than that it doesn't bother me either way. Honestly couldn't tell you who won the last World Cup, or last years Euros.

[andrew70]

It's a good thing for me.

Would hopefully be the final nail in the coffin for the pointless exercise that is International football.

Out-dated, archaic and a waste of time.

As people have said it will dilute the tournament much like the previous Euros but the international scene has long been failing to hold any type of credibility.

[allezsauzee]

It's a good thing for me.

Would hopefully be the final nail in the coffin for the pointless exercise that is International football.

Out-dated, archaic and a waste of time.

As people have said it will dilute the tournament much like the previous Euros but the international scene has long been failing to hold any type of credibility.

This

[BroxburnHibee]

It's all about money and politics. Nothing to do with quality of the tournament.

I fear Blatter's been replaced with another egomaniac.

[Glory Lurker]

IMHO the Euros last summer was the worst international tournament I have ever watched, in no small part due to it having been expanded. As if Qatar won't be stupid enough, expansion of the World Cup will make it farcical.

Unlike some, I find all this sad, both in itself and as it being just another money-driven bloating of the sport on its way to inevitable death by greed.

[Mr White]

It's been voted through and will begin in 2026. I don't think it's a bad idea as there will be less group games and more knock out matches.

16 groups of 3, each team plays 2 matches and one team from each group is eliminated.

32 teams progress to the first knock out round. The eventual winners (and beaten finalists and semi finalists) still play 7 matches in the tournament as they do now.

[StevieC]

It's the groups of 3 that I'm worried about. There's even more chance of the two bottom teams finishing on same points, goal difference, goals scored and a draw when they'd played each other. How are they going to sort that out? Toss a coin??

[MKHIBEE]

IMHO the Euros last summer was the worst international tournament I have ever watched, in no small part due to it having been expanded. As if Qatar won't be stupid enough, expansion of the World Cup will make it farcical.

Unlike some, I find all this sad, both in itself and as it being just another money-driven bloating of the sport on its way to inevitable death by greed.

I tend to agree. it will become the international equivalent of the inter toto cup.

[easty]

I like watching football. If this means there will be more games to watch on TV over the summer, then that's fine by me.

[--------]

It's all about money and politics. Nothing to do with quality of the tournament.

I fear Blatter's been replaced with another egomaniac.


Money, money, money ... And looking after your buddies. :agree:

Qualifying is where the weaker teams should have a chance to make their mark.

The Finals should be the Finals, not three weeks of qualifying matches - riveting fixtures like Estonia v Venezuela and Kazakhstan v Mali - followed by much the same last 16 leading to much the same last 8 leading to the a very similar semi-final line-up as last time leading to two of what we all know are the top five or six teams in the world in the final.

And we all watch because it's the World Cup, and we all say how much we're enjoying it, even when Estonia only get past Venezuela 13-12 in a penalty shoot-out (with another dozen penalty-kicks disappearing into Row ZZ) after an abysmal 0-0 aet without a single direct shot on goal. And the whole crowd South Africans - with vuvuzelas.

Familiarity breeds contempt. We see enough of these second-rate prima donnas in the EPL every week. (The first-rate prima donnas are playing in Spain, Italy and Germany.)

[Mr White]

It's the groups of 3 that I'm worried about. There's even more chance of the two bottom teams finishing on same points, goal difference, goals scored and a draw when they'd played each other. How are they going to sort that out? Toss a coin??

That's a fair point. If all 3 games in a group finish 1-1, or more likely 0-0 I wonder what the outcome would be. 3 way penalty shootout would be my preference :greengrin

[Beefster]

Having 48 teams in the final tournament is a nonsense. Money-making racket (more games = more TV money) and a sop to the FAs of countries who will keep Infantino in post next time around.

Same sort of horse**** that Blatter used to pull, just in a different guise.

[superfurryhibby]

It's a good thing for me.

Would hopefully be the final nail in the coffin for the pointless exercise that is International football.

Out-dated, archaic and a waste of time.

As people have said it will dilute the tournament much like the previous Euros but the international scene has long been failing to hold any type of credibility.

If the players shared your view then international football would cease to exist. Big clubs would obviously prefer it if their employees lost their appetite to represent their countries.

As for archaic, out dated and a waste of time. Well, if we applied that analysis to Scottish football we would be as well as to ask 95% of our clubs to pack it in tomorrow?

Fortunately, football is much more than business to supporters and there is still a demand for international football from fans, even in wee diddy nations like Scotland.

As for an expanded world cup. Nonsense, it smacks of greed and money making on the part of FIFA.

[ruthven_raiders]

That's a fair point. If all 3 games in a group finish 1-1, or more likely 0-0 I wonder what the outcome would be. 3 way penalty shootout would be my preference :greengrin

Think it's supposed to be a penalty shootout at the end of a game if it's a draw after 90mins

[Mr White]

Think it's supposed to be a penalty shootout at the end of a game if it's a draw after 90mins

Ok. I quite like that idea actually. So more football, more countries and more penalty shootouts. Scotland might even qualify :thumbsup:

[BroxburnHibee]

Ok. I quite like that idea actually. So more football, more countries and more penalty shootouts. Scotland might even qualify :thumbsup:

More often than not at the finals the group games were decent but the knockout were poor as teams got more defensive.

I fear this is what it will lead to.

I seem to remember one euro finals (sorry can't remember which) there was hardly a 0-0 until the knockout then 3 of the quarter finals went to penalties.

[Mr White]

More often than not at the finals the group games were decent but the knockout were poor as teams got more defensive.

I fear this is what it will lead to.

I seem to remember one euro finals (sorry can't remember which) there was hardly a 0-0 until the knockout then 3 of the quarter finals went to penalties.

That's a fair point and it could go that way I suppose but the whole dynamic of the competition will be altered and some years tournaments will continue to be better than others. Overall I think this could work.

[KeithTheHibby]

It's been voted through and will begin in 2026. I don't think it's a bad idea as there will be less group games and more knock out matches.

16 groups of 3, each team plays 2 matches and one team from each group is eliminated.

32 teams progress to the first knock out round. The eventual winners (and beaten finalists and semi finalists) still play 7 matches in the tournament as they do now.

See these groups of 3; Team 1 plays team 2. Team 2 plays team 3. Team 2 sits out last game as team 1 play team 3. Surely this game could be a carve up as both teams play for a result that puts them both through?

[Mr White]

See these groups of 3; Team 1 plays team 2. Team 2 plays team 3. Team 2 sits out last game as team 1 play team 3. Surely this game could be a carve up as both teams play for a result that puts them both through?

Harder to manipulate if a draw leads to a penalty shootout perhaps?

[bod]

Europe only getting 3 more places

[SteveHFC]

Europe only getting 3 more places



Hosts - 1
Europe - 16
Asia - 8
Africa - 8
Oceania - 2
North America - 6
South America - 7

Sorted

[--------]

That's a fair point. If all 3 games in a group finish 1-1, or more likely 0-0 I wonder what the outcome would be. 3 way penalty shootout would be my preference :greengrin


Naw. Sudden death - with machetes.

This all sounds like something out of Dante's 'Inferno'. Can you imagine what it'll be like listening to guys like Tyldesley and Provan for all those games? :bitchy:

[bod]

Hosts - 1
Europe - 16
Asia - 8
Africa - 8
Oceania - 2
North America - 6
South America - 7

Sorted

what's the current allocation ?

[andrew70]

If the players shared your view then international football would cease to exist. Big clubs would obviously prefer it if their employees lost their appetite to represent their countries.

As for archaic, out dated and a waste of time. Well, if we applied that analysis to Scottish football we would be as well as to ask 95% of our clubs to pack it in tomorrow?

Fortunately, football is much more than business to supporters and there is still a demand for international football from fans, even in wee diddy nations like Scotland.

As for an expanded world cup. Nonsense, it smacks of greed and money making on the part of FIFA.

Moreso the bureaucrats than the clubs but I get what you mean.

Is there though? Previously I couldn't really careless but I'd go, every now and then, if there was a spare ticket on the bus now there's not even a bus running from here. The prices, the standard and the day in general putting people off.

Football is much more than a business I never suggested it wasn't but surely lining the SFAs pockets is more business like than anything else. What return on £60 a head do we see in our game after an international against England for example?

[SteveHFC]

what's the current allocation ?


Asia (4.5)
Africa (5)
North America (3.5)
South America (4.5)
Oceania (0.5)
Europe (13)
Hosts (1)

[AZhibee]

It will dilute the competition sadly.

Does that matter? I don't watch the World Cup solely for competition quality. Similar to the Olympics, it's an international festival and event. Quality comes later in the tournament.

[Is It On....]

Bad thing for me. Dilutes the quality. Personally think some confederations already get too many qualifying spots as it is. CONCACAF is a total joke. Is impossible for USA and Mexico not to qualify playing against pub teams. South America also qualify 5 out of 9 teams. Granted they are all good quality but there is talk of combining the Americas and giving them more qualifying spots. Not for me. Keep it as it is for a few years longer until the rest of the world improves in quality

Totally agree with Concaf...utter drivel of a region...

[Haymaker]

Does that matter? I don't watch the World Cup solely for competition quality. Similar to the Olympics, it's an international festival and event. Quality comes later in the tournament.

Does to me.

[bod]

Asia (4.5)
Africa (5)
North America (3.5)
South America (4.5)
Oceania (0.5)
Europe (13)
Hosts (1)

Cheers