48 teams will be divided into 12 groups – OA Sport

One has been announced Important message In the eyes of others World Cup. Edition 2026, held between USA, Canada and Mexico (23rd overall), will, in fact, see expansion From the current 32 to a record 48 participating teams. A change dictated by FIFA’s desire to further expand the number of matches in the top international competition for national teams and that fHe’ll hit a remarkable +40 on matchups would be controversial.

With this change, that also goes without saying Income will grow exponentially and they are expected to reach a total of almost 12 billion euros. Really exciting numbers. More specifically, how will the structure of the World Cup change? The 48 teams Who will be on the starting line for the global event? Divided into 12 groups of 4 participants each each one. A radical change, splitting the teams into 16 groups of 3 was even an early idea. An option to avoid the national teams already being relegated was apparently rejected after two meetings.

At this point, the The top two and eight best third-place finishers in each group advance to the next round, the sixteenth. The 32 qualifiers will form a classic tennis scoreboard that will lead us to the title-awarding final. To go down from the current 7 games, we will go to 8. Everything seems settled now, but an official decision should come during the FIFA Board of Directors meeting in Kigali, Rwanda.

As for the 2026 World Cup, There will be 16 cities you will play in: Toronto and Vancouver for Canada; Guadalajara, Mexico City and Monterrey for Mexico; Then Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Seattle in the US.

Photo: LaPresse

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