Eight countries participated in 2026 North Central and U.S WC 4 teams each in Group 12.
It will be the largest World Cup ever.
FIFA said on its official website on the 15th (Korea Standard Time), “At the council held prior to the 73rd Rwanda General Assembly, we decided to divide the group stage into 12 groups of four teams at the 2026 North-Central America World Cup.”
The next World Cup, which will follow the success of the 2022 Qatar World Cup, is a special tournament held together by the United States, Canada, and Mexico, the three countries of North Korea, Central America. It will be the first co-host in 24 years since the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup and the first co-hosting of three countries.
There are also special factors that will directly affect the competition internally. For the first time, the expansion of participating countries made by FIFA President Gianni Infantino as a pledge to win the presidency in 2016 will be applied. Therefore, the number of participating countries will increase from 32 to 48.
The number of countries participating in the World Cup has gradually increased since Uruguay’s first World Cup (13 countries) in 1930. Sixteen countries participated until the 1978 FIFA World Cup in Argentina, and 24 countries participated from the 1982 FIFA World Cup in Spain. Since then, the current system of 32 countries has settled in the 1998 France World Cup. It is a familiar way for four teams to be divided into eight groups, and the first and second-place teams in the group to play the tournament from the round of 32.
As the 24-year-old system faced a major shift, attention was drawn to the new way of proceeding. FIFA originally planned to form 16 groups of three teams to proceed with the round of 32 tournaments as the first and second place in the group.
However, if this method is adopted, the group stage per team will be given two games. In addition, since the final group match cannot be held at the same time, there was a possibility that teams could collude over the results of the match. That’s why the final match is held at the same time in the current system.
In the end, FIFA stuck to the method of four teams in one group. Instead, he made a difference to the tournament. The federation said, “24 teams in the first and second place in the group will go straight to the round of 32, while the third-place teams in the group will compete for the remaining eight seats. “We will minimize the risk of collusion, guarantee three games to all teams, and have even breaks,” he explained 토토사이트
The only drawback is that they have to play 104 games more than when they are grouped into three teams (80 games in total). The tournament period will be at least a week longer, causing problems for players’ fatigue and schedules in many European leagues. FIFA plans to reduce the training period given before the opening of the tournament by about a week to keep the entire schedule at the previous level.