World Cup Expand to 48 Teams ???

[lilphenom]

An incredible story has surfaced in the World Football Bulletin, which is available only to exclusive subscribers of this internationally renowned newsletter. FIFA wants to expand the World Cup from 32 to 48 teams for the 2006 tournament in Germany, according to well-placed sources.

Probably the most interesting part of the plan by FIFA president Sepp Blatter is to add to give Europe 20 slots in the quadrennial tournament, while Africa and Asia would get seven berths apiece. South America and CONCACAF would be increased to six teams apiece and Oceania would be awarded two spots, the Bulletin reported.

Reliable sources close to the FIFA executive committee have confirmed world soccer's governing body is ready to announce the plan as early as this Sunday at the organization's headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland.

Incredible as it may sound, the European part of the proposal would allow the minnows of the continent -- a group that includes the Faroe Islands, Andorra and Luxembourg, among others -- to qualify for the World Cup via a special group.


Long-time soccer fans will be shocked to learn that these countries would have to pay millions of dollars for the right to participate in their own unique group. But an opportunity to play at the world's greatest sporting spectacle might be too strong of a lure for any country to say no.

Finding the right balance between the traditional soccer powers -- Europe and South America -- and the new kids on the block -- Africa and some countries from other confederations -- has not been easy, but a compromise finally was reached earlier this week, sources said.

Of course, nothing will be official until the executive committee approves such an unexpected plan. Critics of the ever-expanding World Cup will undoubtedly claim that the tournament will be watered down once again.

Only a surprise motion from the floor will defeat such an enterprising plan, sources said.

"Look," said one prominent official close to negotiations, "it always comes down to money -- more games mean more greenbacks in the pockets of FIFA, ISL and the various World Cup teams. It's a win-win situation for everyone."

So, get ready for an expanded World Cup.

[B@tigol]

yup, it's better to expand to WC though it will make the standard lower but more country could participate in it.maybe my country could take part for the first time :D

[Fantastic]

I think that is a good idea while there are too many NT from Europe left home and they deserve to pacipate at such event.

[zunaid]

i would disagree on this, world cup is such a big thing where regular teams do not belong. Its for the best, and only the teams that qualify should be in it. No offence, but i'd rather see teams fight there way to be in the world cup

[tok87]

Hmmm, nice idea with some + things & some - things.........but my vote would be yes.

[soccer fanatic]

I`m against, the main tournament should be for the football elite, wouldn`t be good if the average quality of matches would drop even further than it already did. Like what happened too the CL, it would be bigger and make more money, but not as good too watch anymore.

The WC should maintain his high standard, I would earlier want too go back too 24 than expand too 48. I would like 24 teams and then 4 poules of 6, with after that cross semis and the final.

Same for CL, bring back the older system, only nubers one qualify, the rest too UEFA Cup.

I could live with numbers 2 also qualify, but not numbers 4, that is just plain stupid.

[kenodoki]

Originally posted by soccer fanatic

Same for CL, bring back the older system, only nubers one qualify, the rest too UEFA Cup.

I could live with numbers 2 also qualify, but not numbers 4, that is just plain stupid.

I think the Champions league is a different kettle of fish. If only champions qualifued then you would only have a few top European club teams in the competition and the quality would go DOWN. I don't believe for one miniute that the champions of the Faroe Islands should play instead of Man United, Newcastle, Deportivo or Barcelona. They are scrapping the second group stage (which is a good idea). But having fourth paced sides from strong Europena leagues is a good idea. Anyway only the top three European leagues have four sides in the competion.

And remember third and fourth placed teams have to play qualification games against chanpions of other leagues and they still manage to qualify. So it's not as if they have an easy passage into the competition.

[soccer fanatic]

Originally posted by kenodoki
I think the Champions league is a different kettle of fish. If only champions qualifued then you would only have a few top European club teams in the competition and the quality would go DOWN. I don't believe for one miniute that the champions of the Faroe Islands should play instead of Man United, Newcastle, Deportivo or Barcelona. They are scrapping the second group stage (which is a good idea). But having fourth paced sides from strong Europena leagues is a good idea. Anyway only the top three European leagues have four sides in the competion.

And remember third and fourth placed teams have to play qualification games against chanpions of other leagues and they still manage to qualify. So it's not as if they have an easy passage into the competition.

I agree, minor countries should still play qualifying rounds too get in the main tournament, we would just would have one stage less. I mean it is the CHAMPIONS League, if you won`t change the system of it, change the name of the trophy.

[Mendieta]

Originally posted by soccer fanatic
I`m against, the main tournament should be for the football elite, wouldn`t be good if the average quality of matches would drop even further than it already did. Like what happened too the CL, it would be bigger and make more money, but not as good too watch anymore.

The WC should maintain his high standard, I would earlier want too go back too 24 than expand too 48. I would like 24 teams and then 4 poules of 6, with after that cross semis and the final.

Same for CL, bring back the older system, only nubers one qualify, the rest too UEFA Cup.

I could live with numbers 2 also qualify, but not numbers 4, that is just plain stupid.

I agree. I'm sorry and no offence to anyone, but how many people are gonna wanna see a game between Faroe Islands and Italy? Weak teams are weak for a reason. They shouldn't be in the WC, if the WC is supposed to represent the best in the world. Can you imagine by some fluky luck that a team like Faroe Islands makes it to the semi's! What a joke the WC would become.

[zunaid]

Forget Faroe Island vs Italy, take a living example. Saudi Arabia vs Germany. the Germans gave them one hell of a hammering. Beating them 8-0, which is good to watch, goals after goals, but lacks the point. We all know Germany as a team, are one of the top teams in the world. But you have to concider that Saudi Arabia reached the worldcup, meaning they qualified. They can porduce good football and most likely we will see the Saudi's in the next worldcup, but the question is will they pass the first round...!?!?

[Juan]

Well, that format would virtually guarantee Venezuela´s qualification....

But I disagree. The state of football these days doesn´t call for such excess offer of games. Most would be boring shows or blowouts like mentioned before.

A perhaps more bizarre option was proposed by CONMEBOL: 36 teams. A lower number, and 9 group stages mean only 6 more games, plus there wouldn´t be as much crap teams. It will be discussed by FIFA, and a decision will be announced in May (I think)

[chachafut]

I would rather see a world cup with the same number of teams bu with more rounds, more games per country, something like the current UEFA Champions League format (two group rounds, then quarters, and so on...

[giorgiob8]

48 teams will be the death of the World Cup!
I believe the overall structure of FIFA and the its competitions needs an urgent overhaul. For me the right number of participating teams is 24 and the WC should remain every 4 years. That will be the solid core of NT competitions, then we face the questions: what do we do next to fix the system? How do we encourage small countries participations, how do we distribute the slots equally and fairly? How do we rotate the WC around so countries such as Brazil can host the competition? It makes no sense that the 5 times WC champ held the tournament only once 50 years ago. The answer re-structuring the Confederations, re-structuring the calendars, sychronizing all Confederation competitions. The current system was created almost a century ago when geographical, economical and political conditions were different. It's time to move on and do something.
Political correctness and comercialization have plagued football with an obsolete structure. Why Australia/Oceania does deserve a spot in the WC if they haven't done anything to win it? Is it fair to bring New Zealand into the WC only because they are located somewhere while leaving Holland at home? Why certain Confederations are overcrowded while others only have a handful of countries?
A good example: COMEBOL and CONCACAF, while the first one has only 10 teams, most of them with high quality (they have won 9 WC's) the second one has 35 teams with only 3 or teams that can contest fairly at International level. So what they do, they invite each other to their competitions, countries such as Mexico, Honduras and Costa Rica played the Copa America (Comebol) and in exchange teams like Brazil and Colombia just played the Gold Cup. At club level Mexican teams play the Libertadores Cup why they don't care at all for their regional tournament, this year teams from other Central American countries were invited too. So why this duality when it comes to International Competition, what's next? England playing the African Nations Cup and Sweden the Oceania tournament? For me it is clear COMEBOL and CONCACAF should merge becoming one Confederation of 45 teams, with a membership so much alike UEFA (Europe: 53 members) CAF ( Africa: 52 members) and what about merging ASIA (46 members) with OCEANIA (11 members) for a new Confederation of 57 members. With this format the WC can be rotated fairly and every 16 years a Confedaration will have it. Not to mention how the sychronization of tournaments will work, the qualification for the WC, etc.
I surveyed a big number of fans several years ago from 14 different countries while doing a school project about this and I got a lot of fresh excellent ideas that will improve the National Teams competition. This came up when the Champions League was created and we all feared for the future of NT's competition. Then we heard about Dutch, Scottish and Potuguesse clubs talking about creating the Super-League which I believe it is inevitable and will take place one day. Anyway, we carved a whole new structure that was submitted to some FIFA officials, some journalists and explayers and we had some positive comments back. I will start a thread soon about it because I belive that we can do the same thing now because some ideas back them might not work right today, but it will be an interesting debate.

[vasek]

yes, uniting conmebol and concacaf into one confederation is a good idea

[droit_au_but]

That merger idea sounds very interesting. with an equal share of countres in all four regions, the qualifying would be much more fair. Although Europe would still deserve more spots than anyone, the quality of other regions would be improved enough to take some of their spots.

[ericst]

:fed-up: I think increasing the number of teams is a fantastic idea. I read some post where some person was laughing if Venezuela made it to the World Cup. How is that funny? They almost beat Columbia in the qualifying rounds for Japan/South Korea. There is no point in competition. Everybody is the same. Nobody is better than anybody else. If a "weak team" made it to the finals they could be evil and play for a tie in all three games and maybe make the second round. That happened to Chile in 1998. Although I don't think they were playing for a tie in all of their games. What is up with the penalty kicks? THERE TOO EASY! It should be 18 yards from goal instead of 12. Get rid of the offsides. Some of the time they wouldn't have scored anyway.

[Toluca01]

Ima have to go against this. The WC is meant for the best of the best. Increasing the number of teams wont make it better, just more frustrating and longer. The WC should stay as it is....

[Coronado]

I agree with Toluca.

[stevan]

48 teams will be the death of the World Cup!
...
For me it is clear COMEBOL and CONCACAF should merge becoming one Confederation of 45 teams, with a membership so much alike UEFA (Europe: 53 members) CAF ( Africa: 52 members) and what about merging ASIA (46 members) with OCEANIA (11 members) for a new Confederation of 57 members. With this format the WC can be rotated fairly and every 16 years a Confedaration will have it. Not to mention how the sychronization of tournaments will work, the qualification for the WC, etc.
...


Pardon, which is the 53rd Uefa member?

[nachi88]

Pardon, which is the 53rd Uefa member?
kazakhastan i think

[contemporarydog]

kazakhastan i think

I don't know how they came up with that decision...

They might as well put the USA in the European section.

[stevan]

kazakhastan i think

No, it was the 52nd

[Toke-E-Yo]

I am totally for this. This would give Asia and Africa a bigger oppurtunity to get teams into the US. plus it measn that the Host Nation would make more economically

[mrdeeds]

If it aint broke, don't fix it. I see no good reason to change the existing format. Leave well enough alone! :mad2:

[nachi88]

I am totally for this. This would give Asia and Africa a bigger oppurtunity to get teams into the US. plus it measn that the Host Nation would make more economically

you are correct when u say the host nation wud make more money. But thats it. But the standard of the game will be lower.Many big margin wins and many matches. Means by the time a team reahces the finals, there will be more chance of some good players left out due to injuries and suspensions. I feel 32 too is a lot. 24 was good. But if FIFA have decided on 32, it shouldnt be any more.Also, if you have 48 teams, and 2 weak teams play each other in group stages, it wouldnt attract much crowd or television intrest.

Another thing i feel is that qualifiers sgould not be region based, but only ranking based. Only when asian,african central american teams play outside their continent against european or south american teams will their standrad increase. Maybe by doing this in next two world cups we might not have many countries outside europe and south america, but it wont take others very long to catch up.

[Marandino]

if we keep on increasing teams, why don't we just do it the Tennis way and have knock out round right from the beginning! no more qualifiers! and we can have World cup every year! do you want that?

I think the WC is getting too big and a lot of people (e.g Johan Cruff) expressed the congession feeling when it comes to the WC in 2002. For me, the Confederation Cup now looks more interesting as you can concentrate more on the 8 teams that are particpating.

People want more games because they think more games will equal to more magic happening on the field but it just doesn't work like this. Great matches will appear regardless, but it wouldn't increase its occurance just because there are more matches happening.

[Toke-E-Yo]

if we keep on increasing teams, why don't we just do it the Tennis way and have knock out round right from the beginning! no more qualifiers! and we can have World cup every year! do you want that?
.


Nope...IMO Tennis blows ass, and it would be embaressing to model our tournament after tennis. Tennis is for upper-middle class / rich ppl. You need equipment. Soccer is for everyone, from the ghettos, the slums or the burbs. ALl you need is a round object, and two pieces of wood sticking up from the gorund. You dont even need a big space. In class, we draw two nets on either side of the classroom, and use (something like) a size 1, lol. Its awsome

[Aryan]

No. Less teams there are-quality will be better.

[Ambis]

I think everything is fine the way it is i just wish the group stage was longer by each team playing each other twice that way it would make it a longer tourney.