There was drama in the first round of FIFA qualifiers this week as Macau refused to travel to Sri Lanka to complete their 2022 World Cup qualifier citing concerns over safety in the country.
The Asian Football Confederations first round of Qatar 2020 World Cup qualification began last week with 12 teams facing off in knockout games. Macau had hosted Sri Lanka and took a one-goal advantage ahead of the return leg in Colombo. Read More “MACAU ABANDON FIFA WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS”
FIFA is strongly in favour of expanding the World Cup 2022 to 48 teams and the feasibility study conducted by the world football organisation has revealed that it is indeed possible to increase the capacity of the World Cup from 32 teams to 48. However, this restructure is expected to open the possibility of a multicountry World Cup, as Qatar alone will not be able to handle the increased capacity.
A number of Middle East nations are expected to be brought into the fold. FIFA is very keen on this increase since such a big tournament will provide an increased revenue of up to $ 400 million. Read More “FIFA Stand to Gain Additional $400 Million”
FIFA president Gianni Infantino says that football has entirely adopted his expansion plan to take the World Cup to 48 teams. An additional 16 teams have been added to the traditional format of 32 teams, which already maintain a lot of games at the World Cup.
Now, the expanded tournament is expected to be introduced for 2026 World Cup. It is also expected that the planned to introduce 48 teams could be made as early as the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, but the decision on this proposal will be taken only in next spring. Read More “Qatar Can Still Host 48-Team World Cup”