2026 World Cup format: What changes are FIFA making? | OneFootball

The World Cup has delivered all sorts of drama once again in 2022.

There have been plenty of shocks, with Saudi Arabia’s triumph over Argentina being the highlight.

Some massive sides have already departed the competition at the group stages, including Belgium and Germany.

The World Cup has not disappointed this year and it has rarely – if ever – let us down.

But, despite that, the World Cup in 2026 is set to look very different.

FIFA are planning to revamp the competition in four years’ time with some major changes coming into effect.

What is the 2026 World Cup format?

The 2026 World Cup is being hosted by United States, Mexico and Canada.

It will be the first World Cup finals in history to feature 48 teams – 16 more than in 2022.

Each confederation will get a significant number of added spots. UEFA will get three extra spots, while the Oceania Football Confederation will get a guaranteed spot for the first time ever.

A playoff tournament involving six teams will be held to decide the last two FIFA World Cup berths.

It will consist of one nation per confederation (except for UEFA) and one additional team from the confederation of the host countries (CONCACAF).

View a full breakdown of the slot allocation for every confederation below…

The addition of more teams would lead to a bigger disparity in quality between teams and perhaps less drama in the group stages.

As things stand, groups won’t consist of four teams any more.

The current plan is for there to be 16 group featuring three teams. FIFA’s council chose this option in 2017.

Two teams will qualify from each group, meaning 16 sides will be eliminated having played just two games in the competition.

It will then be a knockout competition from the last 32 onwards.

There is set to be 80 games, an increase of 16 from 64 in 2022.

This format is not set in stone, though, and the Guardian have reported that they could make it 12 groups of four, with two teams going through from each group plus the eight best third placed sides.

If they did that, the amount of games would sky-rocket to 104 – a 40-game increase from 2022.

In addition, the Athletic reported earlier this week that penalty shootouts could be introduced during the group stages.

Whatever is eventually decided, the World Cup in 2026 will look very different to this year’s edition.

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