By Victor Kanayo
World Football governing body, FIFA, have announced a crucial change of format for the 2026 World Cup.
The much talked about 48-team group stage, is expected to take-off from the year, when three countries – USA, Canada and Mexico, will co-host the mundial.
This was disclosed at its FIFA executive meeting ahead of its 73rd Congress in Kigali, Rwanda.
The FIFA Council has now communicated that the 48 participating nations will be drawn in 12 groups of four teams each.
This decision will also increase the number of matches to be played at the 2026 World Cup tournament to one hundred and four (104) instead of the eighty (80) games already proposed with the now abrogated format.
FIFA also confirmed that the World Cup tournament billed to start on June 11, 2026, will climax with the final on July 19, 2026 intended for the 82,500 capacity MetLife Stadium in New York/New Jersey.
At the meeting, the FIFA Council adopted several key decisions that will affect international football between 2023 and the next seven years, part of which is the expanded FIFA World Cup 2026.
Part of the resolution at the meeting was that the 2026 tournament will take a different shape as against the earlier communicated sixteen groups of three teams each.
From these groups, according to FIFA, the top two teams, will progress to the next round while eight best third-placed teams will also advance to the knockout round of 32 from which format, the competition will run till the end.
FIFA council also reasoned that the revised format, will mitigate the risk of collusion and ensures that all participating teams play a minimum of three matches each while providing balanced rest time between competing teams.
