🏆 New World Cup format confirmed: Four-team groups, 24 extra games

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Lewis Ambrose·14 March 2023

🏆 New World Cup format confirmed: Four-team groups, 24 extra games

Fifa have officially approved the format for the 2026 World Cup, the first tournament set to feature 48 teams.

The increase from a 32-team finals has long been agreed but a format had not been settled upon.

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It has now been agreed that the 2026 World Cup finals will retain a format that sees four teams compete in each group, with the original idea to have three-team groups now officially rejected.

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From 12 four-team groups, the top two and the eight best third-place finishers will go into a round of 32, meaning one extra round of knockout matches.

The entire tournament will now consist of 104 matches, way up from the 80 proposed when Fifa planned to stage groups containing three teams apiece and a massive increase on the 64 matches played in the 32-team format that has been in place since 1998.

Four-match international breaks also announced

Fifa also confirmed on Tuesday a big change to the men’s international match calendar.

Beginning in 2026, a 16-day, four-match international window will take place in late September/early October, in addition to the nine-day, two-match windows which will continue to occur in March, June and November.

The Men’s International Match Calendar 2025-2030 will be structured as follows:

March: a nine-day, two-match window
June: a nine-day, two-match window (including friendlies in preparation of final tournaments where appropriate)
Late September/early October: a 16-day, four-match window (to be introduced as of 2026, with two nine-day, two-match windows to be retained in September and October 2025)
November: a nine-day, two-match window

Fifa Club World Cup 2025

The other big news out of Fifa on Tuesday was the official announcement of the new 32-team Club World Cup, which will be played every four years as of June 2025.

The key principles for qualification for the Club World Cup are as follows …

For confederations with more than four slots: access for the champions of the previous four editions of the confederation’s premier club competition, and additional teams to be determined by a club ranking based on the same four-year period
For confederations with four slots: access for the champions of the previous four editions of the confederation’s premier club competition
For confederations with one slot: access for the highest ranked club between the champions of the confederation’s premier club competition in the four-year period
For the host country: access for the club occupying this slot will be determined at a later stage

Other criteria also apply:

In the event of a club winning two or more editions of the confederation’s premier club competition during the 2021-2024 period, a club ranking calculated based on sporting criteria will be used to grant access
A cap of two clubs per country will be applied to the access list with an exception in case more than two clubs from the same country win the confederation’s premier club competition over the four-year period
Further consultation will follow with confederations and stakeholders to define the calculation mechanisms of the club ranking, which will be based on sporting criteria

The current version of the Club World Cup will be discontinued after the 2023 edition, and Fifa says it has unanimously approved the strategic concept of a yearly club competition as of 2024.

This competition will feature the champions of the premier club competitions of all confederations and conclude with a final to be played at a neutral venue, between the winner of the Uefa Champions League and the winner of intercontinental play-offs between the other confederations.

Details on timing and format will follow in due course.