FIFA World Cup 2026 - Discussion Thread

FIFA stinking of corruption once again.

Edit: CONCACAF have joined UEFA to reject FIFA's plan to sell stakes to private investors.
 
Last edited:
PES4eva said:
FIFA stinking of corruption once again.

Edit: CONCACAF have joined UEFA to reject FIFA's plan to sell stakes to private investors.
Click to expand...
Good job, CONCACAF!!! 👏 👏 👏

Maybe, the other confederations (CAF, AFC, CONMEBOL) will finally regret this move after they apparently backed him, and if a new FIFA president is elected the next year (not Infantino, of course), I'm pretty sure there will be a lot of big changes. Bring back the 32-teams of World Cup, not 48 or even 64, have a World Cup be held in just one country (or maybe 2 like South Korea and Japan did in 2002), and bring back the Confederations Cup (a warm-up tournament for the World Cup) while reverting the Club World Cup back to its old format. And please scrap VAR, hydration breaks, and other shenanigans; they are ruining so much of beautiful game.
 
Ravager29586 said:
if a new FIFA president is elected the next year (not Infantino, of course), I'm pretty sure there will be a lot of big changes. Bring back the 32-teams of World Cup, not 48 or even 64, have a World Cup be held in just one country (or maybe 2 like South Korea and Japan did in 2002), and bring back the Confederations Cup (a warm-up tournament for the World Cup) while reverting the Club World Cup back to its old format.
Click to expand...
You think?! If he goes and doesn't pull some kind of bullshit, personally I think it'll be "meet the new boss, same as the old boss". The expanded World Cup means more money, and nobody boycotted it. So I think it's here to stay.

Also, I can't help but feel UEFA's boycott is largely strategic, and coming from a place of deflection - "everyone will forget we expanded the Champions League if we point the finger; we could be heroes".

But in this instance, maybe two wrongs will make a right, if it at least results in Infantino walking.
 
Infantino will leave shortly he will have to leave.
But the next person coming in will not change a thing.
48 team World Cup generated so much more money even if it did make the group stages incredibly boring and the World Cup pointless to watch for 3 weeks.
They will do 64 teams it is coming, as they need 2 teams from each group to go to the knockouts and have even more games and more money.

The World Club Cup is here to stay and will always be played in the US to generate the most money - Even though America doesn't care about 'soccer'.

One nation will never have the World Cup again which is a massive shame, as one country isn't difficult to get around.

But lets not forget:
UEFA are the same people who expanded the Champions League to have two more match days and an extra knock out round, so they can generate more money for the tournament.
Which again has taken away the jeopardy for the bigger teams, PSG have done bad in both leagues knowing they only need to win a 3/4 games to qualify for the knockouts.

No matter who FIFA brings in they will become corrupted by money and bribes.
There is zero reason why the Middle East and US host a World Cup except for money.
None of them like the sport - It should go back to the original way, Europe, South America then after that a random nation, Europe, SA and repeat.
 
bsmaff said:
48 team World Cup generated so much more money even if it did make the group stages incredibly boring and the World Cup pointless to watch for 3 weeks.
They will do 64 teams it is coming, as they need 2 teams from each group to go to the knockouts and have even more games and more money.
Click to expand...
64 teams World Cup will make the World Cup qualification really pointless in addition to that 3 boring weeks. For that case, I would make this tournament a straight knockout format with 128 teams.

bsmaff said:
UEFA are the same people who expanded the Champions League to have two more match days and an extra knock out round, so they can generate more money for the tournament.
Which again has taken away the jeopardy for the bigger teams, PSG have done bad in both leagues knowing they only need to win a 3/4 games to qualify for the knockouts.
Click to expand...
Same for the European Championship. Since 2016, it's a 24 teams format with more teams and more games than the previous editions, and the reason behind this expansion was all about the revenue. Just like the UEFA club competitions starting in 2024/25 season, this new Euro format has taken away the jeopardy for the bigger teams. Remember that Portugal 2016 haven't won a single group stage game, barely finished as one of the best 3rd place teams, and only won once under the regulation time (the game vs Wales) before winning the entire thing. And similar to the World Cup, they have even experimented the "pan-European" format with 11 countries co-hosting in 2020 edition (which was held in 2021).

Asian Cup and AFCON were also 24 teams format. We may know that Jordan or Ivory Coast won't make such a deep run without these expansions as they had reached the final while only finishing 3rd in their group. Ivory Coast won the whole thing after everyone thought the host country will be out of the group stage, and that their manager was sacked before the knockout stage.

bsmaff said:
None of them like the sport - It should go back to the original way, Europe, South America then after that a random nation, Europe, SA and repeat.
Click to expand...
That would be a good thought. Bring back this original rotation for the hosting policy. The likes of England and Italy haven't hosted the World Cup for a long time. We need to give them a chance.
 
Ravager29586 said:
That would be a good thought. Bring back this original rotation for the hosting policy. The likes of England and Italy haven't hosted the World Cup for a long time. We need to give them a chance.
Click to expand...
England and Italy will never host the tournament again.
The pure corruption for money is disgusting.

South America / Europe / Africa are all hosting the next World Cup, with SA only hosting 3 games.
But this now rules out all 3 continents from bidding for the 2034 and 2038 World Cups, meaning that the Middle East get the 2034 even though they only hosted the World Cup 12 years ago and shouldn't be eligible but due to the clever move of SA hosting 3 games as a special event, they are exempt from bidding.

The pure corruption in the game so that it goes from USA to Middle East is disgusting.
I guarantee both USA and Qatar will host a World Cup again before England does and we invented the game.
When England invented the game we should of made both UEFA and FIFA English but then English football has been ruined and destroyed because everyone only cares about money.

The state of football and the way it has gone in the past 20 years is completely ruining the game.
I mean what is better about football now than 30 years ago.
 
bsmaff said:
England and Italy will never host the tournament again.
The pure corruption for money is disgusting.

South America / Europe / Africa are all hosting the next World Cup, with SA only hosting 3 games.
But this now rules out all 3 continents from bidding for the 2034 and 2038 World Cups, meaning that the Middle East get the 2034 even though they only hosted the World Cup 12 years ago and shouldn't be eligible but due to the clever move of SA hosting 3 games as a special event, they are exempt from bidding.

The pure corruption in the game so that it goes from USA to Middle East is disgusting.
I guarantee both USA and Qatar will host a World Cup again before England does and we invented the game.
When England invented the game we should of made both UEFA and FIFA English but then English football has been ruined and destroyed because everyone only cares about money.

The state of football and the way it has gone in the past 20 years is completely ruining the game.
I mean what is better about football now than 30 years ago.
Click to expand...
I wouldn't say England and Italy will never host the World Cup (and maybe, even the Olympics) again. England (and the UK) are still good when it comes to the infrastructure, and they are hosting the upcoming major football tournament in the form of Euro 2028 (with Scotland, Wales, and Republic of Ireland) and the 2035 Women's World Cup (which will be expanded to 48-teams like the current format for the men's edition). Italy's chances for hosting another World Cup is extremely difficult due to the lack of government's ability to improve the outdated stadium infrastructure they had (particularly San Siro); in fact, even Euro 2032 co-hosting rights for Italy is in serious doubt, leaving Turkey as the sole host for that upcoming Euro.

And yes, the 2034 edition will be held in the Middle East again (Saudi Arabia), even though there's a very likely chance it could be held in January-February 2035. I think that decision something to do with the religion events, namely Ramadan that coincidentally falls in November-December.
And I won't be surprised if somehow FIFA decided to give USA the 2038 World Cup even though they only hosted the World Cup (along with Canada and Mexico) 12 years ago. Maybe even China can host the World Cup before England does.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom