FIFA is set to change the format for the 2026 World Cup that will be hosted by United state, Canada and Mexico as the look to change how the FIFA world club cup will be played also.
The world football governing body FIFA has stated that the 2026 World Cup will have 104 matches instead of the traditional 64 games due to the expanded format with 48 teams taking part.
United States, Canada and Mexico will host the 2026 World Cup tournament and will be the first edition of where 48 teams are taking part.
FIFA council made decision to increase the number of games to 104 when the initial plan was scheduled to have 80 matches.
Traditionally the top two teams from each group advance to the last 16 but the 2026 edition will also have the eight best third-placed teams moving into the knockout round of 32.
“The FIFA Council unanimously approved the proposed amendment to the FIFA World Cup 2026 competition format,” FIFA said.
“The revised format mitigates the risk of collusion and ensures that all the teams play a minimum of three matches, while providing balanced rest time between competing teams.”
The tournament has had 32 teams since the 1998 edition, with eight groups of four and the finalists playing seven games each. But teams reaching the summit clash in 2026 will now play eight matches in total.
FIFA said clubs will have to release players for the World Cup from May 25, 2026, unless they are in a major final — such as the Champions League showpiece — for which clubs will have until May 30 to allow players to join their national teams.
“With 56 days, the total combined number of rest, release and tournament days remain identical to the 2010, 2014 and 2018 FIFA World Cup editions,” FIFA added.
Also on Tuesday, FIFA said a 32-team Club World Cup will be played every four years from June 2025, confirming the announcement made by its president, Gianni Infantino, in Qatar last year.
Confederation champions from 2021 to ’24 will be eligible to play in the Club World Cup, which means Chelsea and Real Madrid have already qualified.
Should either club win the Champions League again, a club ranking calculation based on sporting criteria will be used to determine which other team will qualify.
The current version of the FIFA Club World Cup — an annual competition with seven teams — will be discontinued after 2023, with a new yearly club competition approved from 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 playoffs between the other confederations,” FIFA said.
A newly structured international calendar was also approved with nine-day windows in March and June for two games each, a 16-day window for four matches in September-October followed by another nine-day two-match window in November.
The news was received with a mixed response from the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA), which said worried about “physical fatigue and mental burnout” due to the congested schedule. PFA CEO Maheta Molango went as far as to say the football calendar needed a “complete reset.”
“The expanded World Cup format being announced for 2026 means that, yet again, more games are being forced into an already overcrowded schedule,” Molango said.
The PFA said it was encouraged to see FIFA had prioritised concerns such as the need for a “minimum of 72 hours between games, a mandatory day off each week and an annual rest period”.
“However, it’s very difficult to see how that aligns with the constant expansion of the domestic and international calendar,” Molango added.
“We know that the current workload players face is having an ongoing impact on their wellbeing. We can’t simply push them until they break.”
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