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World Cup might expand to 40 teams

By Patrick Morgan

Nov 13, 2015; St.Louis, MO, USA; Members of team USA and St. Vincent & The Grenadines stand for a moment of silence prior to a FIFA World Cup Qualifying soccer match at Busch Stadium. USA won 6-1. Mandatory Credit: Scott Kane-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 13, 2015; St.Louis, MO, USA; Members of team USA and St. Vincent & The Grenadines stand for a moment of silence prior to a FIFA World Cup Qualifying soccer match at Busch Stadium. USA won 6-1. Mandatory Credit: Scott Kane-USA TODAY Sports /
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FIFA is considering adding an additional eight teams to the tournament.

The World Cup has maintained its current format of 32 qualifying teams (including the host nation) since 1998, but that might soon change. According to a report, FIFA is “discussing plans to expand the World Cup to 40 teams at a meeting in Zurich.” If expansion is approved, it will go into effect for the 2026 tournament.

Talks of expansion are nothing new; suspended FIFA president Sepp Blatter entertained the idea back in 2013, and UEFA president Michael Platini also made promises to expand the tournament’s size to 40 nations if elected to the FIFA presidency the following year (he would eventually lose to Blatter).

An enlargement of the entry pool would have a ripple effect on many other aspects of the tournament as well. Instead of having eight groups of four teams, the new format would have eight groups of five teams, and the group stage would add an extra 32 matches of play. This would increase the total number of World Cup matches to 96, and add an entire week of time to the tournament, which currently lasts about a month.

Supporters of expansion note that adding eight more teams would give nations from smaller leagues more opportunities on the world’s largest stage for soccer. Traditionally, it has been more difficult for teams from leagues like the Caribbean Football Union, the Confederation of African Football, and the Oceania Football Confederation to qualify for the World Cup, with so many berths going to more prominent European and South American nations.

Opponents of expansion point out that a larger field could lead to a more diluted product on the pitch, since teams that normally wouldn’t qualify now might be able to sneak in with a subpar record.

The World Cup began with 13 nations competing against one another in 1930, and has steadily increased in size through the decades. The tournament consisted of 16 teams between 1934 and 1978, expanded to 24 teams in 1982, and then expanded again to its current state of 32 teams in 1998.

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