2026 World Cup Kicks Teams up to 48 in New Expansion Format

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This year's FIFA World Cup has brought plenty of excitement as the top 32 teams squared off — so an expansion to 48 teams promises to bring even more thrilling moments in 2026

Additionally, a bigger World Cup means more coverage, so FIFA will absolutely benefit from the change. In 2018,

the World Cup in Russia, which earned soccer’s governing body revenues of $7.5 billion from commercial deals. Just imagine what adding 16 teams will do!There is always potential for something that seems good, to instead backfire completely. So yes, increasing the participation from 32 to 48 teams might increase the likelihood of historical moments for smaller and underrated countries, it can also promote the issue of having “one-sided” games.

If there are more teams involved, the spotlight is taken from a tournament that is constructed to feature the best of the best in all of soccer internationally. At the end of the day, the increase in nation participation might not really make much of a difference. European and South American teams have all

so far, including 12 for Europe and nine for South America, with Brazil being the most successful team with five World Cup wins. There has been no other continent who has won a final in history.For the first-ever World Cup tournament, 13 teams from three confederations were featured. These teams included:

 

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