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Analysis: How expanded format will affect tournament
This format will lead to a situation where some third-place teams will not know for days in some circumstances if they have qualified for the knockout phase.
But abandoning plans for three-team groups avoids the scenario where all the final group games are not played simultaneously.
That has been the case since 1986 after the 1982 World Cup game that became known as the “Disgrace of Gijon” when West Germany and Austria conspired to knock out Algeria.
A German win by one or two goals was needed for them and Austria to go through – and they played tepidly for a 1-0 victory.
In 2026, not only will the World Cup be played in more countries than ever before – three – it will also be the biggest and longest edition of the FIFA event.
FIFA has selected 16 cities in North America but the location of the final is yet to be decided.
Gianni Infantino was elected FIFA president in 2016 on a platform of expanding the men’s World Cup from the 32-team format that has been in place since France 1998.
He will be re-elected unopposed on Thursday at the FIFA Congress of all 211 member nations in Kigali for a second full term.
After scandals that toppled Sepp Blatter and threatened the future of FIFA, Mr Infantino was elected in 2016 to complete the rest of his disgraced predecessor’s term at a special election.
A private meeting overseen by him in Qatar in December disregarded his first three years in power as counting as his first term.
It allows him to stay in power beyond the 12-year limit envisaged in reforms of the scandal-plagued football body he helped to draw up in 2015.
So the former UEFA general secretary can seek another four-year term running world football from 2027 to 2031 – giving him 15 years in the job.
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