The World Cup

[summerisle]

Expansion mooted, also to be played in different countries. Bad idea or a bad idea ?

http://www.worldsoccer.com/news/fifa-president-repeats-pledge-increase-world-cup-40-teams-387390

Fifa president reiterates support for 40-team World Cup.

Increase to 40 teams and the likehihood of co-hosted World Cup finals are on Fifa's agenda.

Infantino's support for a 40-team World Cup has not wavered since his election.

Fifa President Gianni Infantino has again reiterated his support for a 40-team World Cup in 2026, which could be co-hosted by several countries.

Infantino’s remarks confirm that Fifa would not rule out a joint bid by the United States, Canada and Mexico – all of whom are interested in staging the 2026 finals. The CONCACAF region is expected to host the 2026 edition for the first time since 1994, when 24 teams played in the U.S.

In his presidential election campaign, Infantino supported expanding the tournament and hosting across a region. While that offer was seen as an inducement to attract votes from the Asian and African regions, it is clear that the Swiss regards increasing the number of finalists as the next logical step for the World Cup.

“These two topics will certainly be on the table for discussion,” Infantino said, looking ahead to a meeting of the FIFA Council on Oct. 13-14 in Zurich.

Asked about a potential U.S.-Canada-Mexico project for 2026, The Fifa chief noted that Uefa, with whom Infantino worked previously as secretary general, voyed in favout of staging the 2020 European Championship in 13 different host nations.

“So, there is, I would say, no limit to whatever is good for football,” Infantino said. “We will see, but it’s true that CONCACAF did not have the World Cup for a long time.”

 

[The Cowboy]

My only issue is not the number of teams (there's over 200 nations in WC qualification, so 40 isn't a big deal). The issue is the same as faced in the Euros, if 3rd place can qualify you're left with a very watered down tournament. Perhaps they could change it to 8 groups of 5 and have top 2 go through?

 

[Mikey_Fitzgerald]

I assume the 8 extra slots would be split between Africa, Asia and Oceania?

If so, then I think Oceania should get a guaranteed place at the Finals

Give the winner of Oceania an automatic place in the tournament and have the runner up play a play off

Meanwhile, give Africa 2, Asia 2, North America 1, and then have it alternate between Europe and South America as to who gets the 6th extra slot. The final slot can then be decided between Europe/South America Vs Oceania

If they did it like that, I could tolerate it somewhat

 

[The Cowboy]

I assume the 8 extra slots would be split between Africa, Asia and Oceania?

If so, then I think Oceania should get a guaranteed place at the Finals

Give the winner of Oceania an automatic place in the tournament and have the runner up play a play off

Meanwhile, give Africa 2, Asia 2, North America 1, and then have it alternate between Europe and South America as to who gets the 6th extra slot. The final slot can then be decided between Europe/South America Vs Oceania

If they did it like that, I could tolerate it somewhat

I like the idea of a S America v Europe playoff.

 

[Mikey_Fitzgerald]

I like the idea of a S America v Europe playoff.

You could do it that way yeah

South American Team plays a European Team

Winner advances to the tournament and the loser then plays second place in Oceania qualifying for the last slot

 

[Garrick]

Pass.

I'm a huge World Cup fan, but the bottom few teams every cup are already getting battered. You're not going to add much more to the competition by adding another 8 teams.

Not to mention we place the modern player under enough strain already. If anything, I feel like we should be talking about lowering the total number of fixtures in a year.

 

[The Cowboy]

Pass.

I'm a huge World Cup fan, but the bottom few teams every cup are already getting battered. You're not going to add much more to the competition by adding another 8 teams.

Not to mention we place the modern player under enough strain already. If anything, I feel like we should be talking about lowering the total number of fixtures in a year.

But you're only looking at it from a football perspective. It's also a gathering from fans all around the world. Just think of the new cultures and walks of life the England fans could have fights with.

 

[summerisle]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/37284033

World Cup 2018 qualifying: El Salvador 'refuse bribe to fix match'

El Salvador cannot qualify for the 2018 World Cup

El Salvador's national football team say they have refused a bribe to fix Tuesday's World Cup 2018 qualifying game against Canada.

At a news conference, team members played an audio recording of the person allegedly offering various incentives.

Canada must beat El Salvador - who cannot qualify - in Vancouver, and hope Mexico defeat Honduras in the final round of Group A games to stand a chance of progressing.

Fifa confirmed it is investigating.

"It's the most dramatic thing in football I've seen for some time" investigative journalist Declan Hill told the BBC World Service. "The entire team came in with their coaches and said they had been approached on Saturday.

"They played an 11-minute conversation with the attempted match-fixer. He was offering each player a variety of money per minute depending on the result they could get. The most they would have got for allegedly fixing the match would have been about $3,000 per player."

Hill said the offer was allegedly made by an El Salvadorian who knew some of the players, but who wanted to aid the Honduras national team.

The BBC has approached the Honduras football association for comment.

A Fifa spokesman said it is "aware of the claims" and that "in co-operation with the respective organisations and authorities, Fifa is looking into this matter".

Canada, El Salvador, Honduras and Mexico are members of the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (Concacaf).

Three Concacaf nations will automatically qualify for the 2018 World Cup, which is being staged in Russia, with a fourth entering a play-off against a team from the Asian Football Confederation.

 

[TheBlueGibbon]

But you're only looking at it from a football perspective. It's also a gathering from fans all around the world. Just think of the new cultures and walks of life the England fans could have fights with.

On that basis you could have the top 128 teams go and have it purely as a knockout tournament though. At what point do you draw the line?
(For context, Guyana are 128th in the FIFA rankings, and it includes Iraq, Turkmenistan, Swaziland, Cyprus, Puerto Rico and Cape Verde amongst others.)

 

[The Cowboy]

On that basis you could have the top 128 teams go and have it purely as a knockout tournament though. At what point do you draw the line?
(For context, Guyana are 128th in the FIFA rankings, and it includes Iraq, Turkmenistan, Swaziland, Cyprus, Puerto Rico and Cape Verde amongst others.)

My comment was somewhat tongue in cheek, but seriously, I do think there's something good about having all the various nations coming together for the finals.

 

[Mikey_Fitzgerald]

On that basis you could have the top 128 teams go and have it purely as a knockout tournament though. At what point do you draw the line?
(For context, Guyana are 128th in the FIFA rankings, and it includes Iraq, Turkmenistan, Swaziland, Cyprus, Puerto Rico and Cape Verde amongst others.)

I'd actually love that

Draw it like the FA Cup

Imagine the scenes in Swaziland if they got an away draw against Germany or Italy

 

[Alan Whittle]

We would go out to Cape Verde on penalties in the quarter finals.

 

[MikeH72]

What an absolute nightmare that'd be. A 24-team Euros was too much international football for me

 

[The Cowboy]

We would go out to Cape Verde on penalties in the quarter finals.

Cape Verde aren't actually that bad.

 

[ToffeeDan]

How can they possibly squeeze 40 teams into one tournament and figure out the next stages?

OK, 8 groups of 5 teams with only the top 2 advancing, maybe that works.. anything else will be a dog's dinner. But that will be 95 (or 96 if 3rd v 4th) games so will take all summer to play.