FIFA World Cup 2026 :Canada/Mexico/United States: Discussion Thread

[Leviathan.007]

I still don't know how exactly they want to have a plan for this world cup, I mean they can let one country host the whole grouping stage and other countries host the other stages one by one, otherwise the teams in the world cup won't have the same situation and it's not fair for some teams to playing in Canada and use the hotels there while other countries play on Mexico and use Mexican training fields and hotels I'm sure some teams will be unhappy and if they get bad results they will blame FIFA for it.

I don't think this is enough excuse, Infact, I don't think this is even an excuse at all..
And trust me, I don't think any of the team would care about where they lodges or the kind of hotels they used, and where other teams lodged, the food the ate and the hotels they used.

I believe they will all focus on their primary reason for being in those countries, and that is to play the football game and try to make their respective countries proud, they are not going there to party of to enjoy themselves, they are going there for a business, when time to party and have fun comes, I believe each of those players have more than enough money to afford himself any type of hotel in any part of the world he likes.

I disagree with you, there is a huge difference if your team plays in Canada where you can have better weather situations and better hotels, and in Mexico there you can't find this quality there. Regardless of that, I'm sure the quality of the stadiums and the fields are not the same in these three countries, and having a bad-quality field can be a reason for some players to get injured. That's why I guess this can be very important for any team to play in a country where they can get better services.

The FIFA has minimum requirements for every FIFA approved stadium. I am sure that you won't find a single stadium during the World Cup where the field looks more like an acre. That is not going to happen. The stadiums in Brazil and in Russia have been great as well and I can't remember that there were any complaints about the field quality. The only difference you mentioned might be the weather. But in total I believe the FIFA will try to create a level playing field for all teams involved. Minor difference can never be avoided, not even when the whole World Cup takes place in a single country. It is like playing in Wimbledon. Everyone wants to play on the Centre Court, but that's not possible.

I'm not saying FIFA will allow a bad quality stadium to host the world cup, they surely have some standards and they will check the stadiums before every game also there is the same situation for hotels and training fields and FIFA should warn them if they see any bad quality stadium in any counting hosting the world cup, but still I"m sure you know the weather situation is much better in Canada comparing to Mexico and in the USA they have LA where there are many better hotels comparing Mexico.

[1714616418]

1714616418

[shogun47]

I still don't know how exactly they want to have a plan for this world cup, I mean they can let one country host the whole grouping stage and other countries host the other stages one by one, otherwise the teams in the world cup won't have the same situation and it's not fair for some teams to playing in Canada and use the hotels there while other countries play on Mexico and use Mexican training fields and hotels I'm sure some teams will be unhappy and if they get bad results they will blame FIFA for it.

I don't think this is enough excuse, Infact, I don't think this is even an excuse at all..
And trust me, I don't think any of the team would care about where they lodges or the kind of hotels they used, and where other teams lodged, the food the ate and the hotels they used.

I believe they will all focus on their primary reason for being in those countries, and that is to play the football game and try to make their respective countries proud, they are not going there to party of to enjoy themselves, they are going there for a business, when time to party and have fun comes, I believe each of those players have more than enough money to afford himself any type of hotel in any part of the world he likes.

I disagree with you, there is a huge difference if your team plays in Canada where you can have better weather situations and better hotels, and in Mexico there you can't find this quality there. Regardless of that, I'm sure the quality of the stadiums and the fields are not the same in these three countries, and having a bad-quality field can be a reason for some players to get injured. That's why I guess this can be very important for any team to play in a country where they can get better services.

The FIFA has minimum requirements for every FIFA approved stadium. I am sure that you won't find a single stadium during the World Cup where the field looks more like an acre. That is not going to happen. The stadiums in Brazil and in Russia have been great as well and I can't remember that there were any complaints about the field quality. The only difference you mentioned might be the weather. But in total I believe the FIFA will try to create a level playing field for all teams involved. Minor difference can never be avoided, not even when the whole World Cup takes place in a single country. It is like playing in Wimbledon. Everyone wants to play on the Centre Court, but that's not possible.

I'm not saying FIFA will allow a bad quality stadium to host the world cup, they surely have some standards and they will check the stadiums before every game also there is the same situation for hotels and training fields and FIFA should warn them if they see any bad quality stadium in any counting hosting the world cup, but still I"m sure you know the weather situation is much better in Canada comparing to Mexico and in the USA they have LA where there are many better hotels comparing Mexico.

I have no idea whether climate change has changed anything, but this graphic says that Mexico is far from being the worst place to play soccer at during the World Cup.



I guess it is something that also can't really be predicted. It is not impossible that Canada has a hot summer and regarding the hotels, that is something all those teams take care of in advance. None of the teams will spend time in an average hotel. That's all taken care of and the FIFA will have their first look well in advance.

[nullama]

~snip~
I think having more matches would mean more fans, and more games, more tv income and even maybe more merch sales as well. All of that combined there is more money to be made this way and I think Fifa only cares about that. If you can make more money, then find the method that gives you the most money.

This is exactly the reason I say that it will eventually be 64 team thing, for a while that is as high as it will get, I doubt it will get any higher but we will see that. Why? Only reason; money. Because 64 teams means even more money, and easier setup as well, like 2 teams from each group means 32, then face each other to 16 and then quarter then semi then finals, simple method and will happen.

Yeah, 64 is a nice round number (base 2), so it will probably end up being like that.

It's just such a huge number of teams, but I guess you can always just keep adding groups, and then the knock-out stage is just increased in one step only.

It might work actually

[Sithara007]

Yeah, 64 is a nice round number (base 2), so it will probably end up being like that.

It's just such a huge number of teams, but I guess you can always just keep adding groups, and then the knock-out stage is just increased in one step only.

It might work actually

I don't think that the tournament will be expanded further, at least not for the next 50 years or so. 48 is a number that gives equal importance to both sides of the argument, that is those who argue that quality will get diluted and those who want more representation from around the globe. The main issue that we had with a 32-team setup was that it gave too much importance for the UEFA teams. 13 out of the 32 slots were allotted for the UEFA teams. It was justifiable in the 1990s. But now the quality of AFC and CAF teams have increased to such an extent that they can give a tough challenge to the UEFA nations. So in order to accommodate them, the tournament had to be expanded.

[nullama]

~snip~
I don't think that the tournament will be expanded further, at least not for the next 50 years or so. 48 is a number that gives equal importance to both sides of the argument, that is those who argue that quality will get diluted and those who want more representation from around the globe. The main issue that we had with a 32-team setup was that it gave too much importance for the UEFA teams. 13 out of the 32 slots were allotted for the UEFA teams. It was justifiable in the 1990s. But now the quality of AFC and CAF teams have increased to such an extent that they can give a tough challenge to the UEFA nations. So in order to accommodate them, the tournament had to be expanded.

Europe does have a lot of countries, and a lot of incredibly good countries for football. They are the ones that have won the most times.

A close second is South America.

It makes sense that those two should take the most amount of spaces.

Just by giving the other nations a free pass to qualify doesn't mean they are going to show good football. That was clear with Qatar. They were really bad, probably the worst team by far in the world cup.

[Leviathan.007]

~snip~
I don't think that the tournament will be expanded further, at least not for the next 50 years or so. 48 is a number that gives equal importance to both sides of the argument, that is those who argue that quality will get diluted and those who want more representation from around the globe. The main issue that we had with a 32-team setup was that it gave too much importance for the UEFA teams. 13 out of the 32 slots were allotted for the UEFA teams. It was justifiable in the 1990s. But now the quality of AFC and CAF teams have increased to such an extent that they can give a tough challenge to the UEFA nations. So in order to accommodate them, the tournament had to be expanded.

Europe does have a lot of countries, and a lot of incredibly good countries for football. They are the ones that have won the most times.

A close second is South America.

It makes sense that those two should take the most amount of spaces.

Just by giving the other nations a free pass to qualify doesn't mean they are going to show good football. That was clear with Qatar. They were really bad, probably the worst team by far in the world cup.

In fact, most of the European teams are much better and they have better quality comparing African or Asian teams If you check the FIFA ranking or the teams who won the world cups in the past they were mostly European countries or some American counties like Brazil and Argentina that's why I think to have a world cup with better quality, if were are going to see more teams in the next world cup most of these teams should be europian.

[Daniel91]

~snip~
I don't think that the tournament will be expanded further, at least not for the next 50 years or so. 48 is a number that gives equal importance to both sides of the argument, that is those who argue that quality will get diluted and those who want more representation from around the globe. The main issue that we had with a 32-team setup was that it gave too much importance for the UEFA teams. 13 out of the 32 slots were allotted for the UEFA teams. It was justifiable in the 1990s. But now the quality of AFC and CAF teams have increased to such an extent that they can give a tough challenge to the UEFA nations. So in order to accommodate them, the tournament had to be expanded.

Europe does have a lot of countries, and a lot of incredibly good countries for football. They are the ones that have won the most times.

A close second is South America.

It makes sense that those two should take the most amount of spaces.

Just by giving the other nations a free pass to qualify doesn't mean they are going to show good football. That was clear with Qatar. They were really bad, probably the worst team by far in the world cup.

In fact, most of the European teams are much better and they have better quality comparing African or Asian teams If you check the FIFA ranking or the teams who won the world cups in the past they were mostly European countries or some American counties like Brazil and Argentina that's why I think to have a world cup with better quality, if were are going to see more teams in the next world cup most of these teams should be europian.

In fact, the previous world champions were only European national teams and Uruguay, Brazil and Argentina from South America.
The fact is that African and Asian football has progressed significantly in recent years, which can be seen in the examples of the success of South Korea in 2002 and Morocco last year, but the best football is still played in Europe and South America.
In recent years, very good football players have come from Africa, such as Salah and Mane, but the African national teams are not yet at the level of the best national teams in the world.
Therefore, the inclusion of additional teams from Asia, Africa and North America will definitely reduce the quality of the world cup.

[beerlover]

In fact, most of the European teams are much better and they have better quality comparing African or Asian teams If you check the FIFA ranking or the teams who won the world cups in the past they were mostly European countries or some American counties like Brazil and Argentina that's why I think to have a world cup with better quality, if were are going to see more teams in the next world cup most of these teams should be europian.

It's not just about the teams that win, it's about the teams that participate and bring honor to their nation as well with whatever they have. If a team is destined to lose all their games in the group stages but end up winning at least one, even that makes the nation happy, or if they are calculated as not going out of the group stages, but they do end up going out of the group stages, it doesn't matter if they lose the next game, they did better than expected.

These matter too for the nations and even though we only remember the winners, can you forget Morocco being so good? I am sure Moroccans will never forget that for many years. Those things matter.

[armanda90]

In fact, the previous world champions were only European national teams and Uruguay, Brazil and Argentina from South America.
The fact is that African and Asian football has progressed significantly in recent years, which can be seen in the examples of the success of South Korea in 2002 and Morocco last year, but the best football is still played in Europe and South America.
In recent years, very good football players have come from Africa, such as Salah and Mane, but the African national teams are not yet at the level of the best national teams in the world.
Therefore, the inclusion of additional teams from Asia, Africa and North America will definitely reduce the quality of the world cup.

No doubt about difference level between Europe and Asian or Africa, almost on FIFA World Cup edition Europe national teams always dominance and success lead until final although on FIFA World Cup France have loss from Argentina. For Asian and African national team seems qualify until semifinal like Morocco is the best achievement and Asian national team have longer time can't qualifying to higher stage in World Cup except edition 2002 where South Korea have success lead until semifinal.

Hope next World Cup have final team from Asian or Africa because have longer time not any national team from Asian or Africa and Europe or America always dominance in World Cup final.

[YinShuiSiYuan]

In fact, the previous world champions were only European national teams and Uruguay, Brazil and Argentina from South America.
The fact is that African and Asian football has progressed significantly in recent years, which can be seen in the examples of the success of South Korea in 2002 and Morocco last year, but the best football is still played in Europe and South America.
In recent years, very good football players have come from Africa, such as Salah and Mane, but the African national teams are not yet at the level of the best national teams in the world.
Therefore, the inclusion of additional teams from Asia, Africa and North America will definitely reduce the quality of the world cup.

No doubt about difference level between Europe and Asian or Africa, almost on FIFA World Cup edition Europe national teams always dominance and success lead until final although on FIFA World Cup France have loss from Argentina. For Asian and African national team seems qualify until semifinal like Morocco is the best achievement and Asian national team have longer time can't qualifying to higher stage in World Cup except edition 2002 where South Korea have success lead until semifinal.

Hope next World Cup have final team from Asian or Africa because have longer time not any national team from Asian or Africa and Europe or America always dominance in World Cup final.

The reason for European dominance is their interest in football from small ages like schools , colleges universities  they have been football at All level and after that their are training academies for football so that's why they produce world best teams and footballers .
Unfortunately this is not the case with African and Asian countries.

[Jody.Drummer]

In fact, most of the European teams are much better and they have better quality comparing African or Asian teams If you check the FIFA ranking or the teams who won the world cups in the past they were mostly European countries or some American counties like Brazil and Argentina that's why I think to have a world cup with better quality, if were are going to see more teams in the next world cup most of these teams should be europian.

It's not just about the teams that win, it's about the teams that participate and bring honor to their nation as well with whatever they have. If a team is destined to lose all their games in the group stages but end up winning at least one, even that makes the nation happy, or if they are calculated as not going out of the group stages, but they do end up going out of the group stages, it doesn't matter if they lose the next game, they did better than expected.

These matter too for the nations and even though we only remember the winners, can you forget Morocco being so good? I am sure Moroccans will never forget that for many years. Those things matter.

Yes, that's right, for a country that has never qualified for the World Cup finals, it must be a matter of pride for them when they manage to compete in the World Cup. With the addition of quotas from each continent, it will create a greater chance of becoming one of the teams participating in the World Cup later.
I think they will definitely try hard to improve their quality. They also definitely don't want to just be a complement and fill in the empty slots. It should also be remembered that now besides Europe, countries outside Europe are slowly being able to talk a lot about the World Cup. We can take an example from the recently completed World Cup. How many surprising teams there are.

[YinShuiSiYuan]

In fact, most of the European teams are much better and they have better quality comparing African or Asian teams If you check the FIFA ranking or the teams who won the world cups in the past they were mostly European countries or some American counties like Brazil and Argentina that's why I think to have a world cup with better quality, if were are going to see more teams in the next world cup most of these teams should be europian.

It's not just about the teams that win, it's about the teams that participate and bring honor to their nation as well with whatever they have. If a team is destined to lose all their games in the group stages but end up winning at least one, even that makes the nation happy, or if they are calculated as not going out of the group stages, but they do end up going out of the group stages, it doesn't matter if they lose the next game, they did better than expected.

These matter too for the nations and even though we only remember the winners, can you forget Morocco being so good? I am sure Moroccans will never forget that for many years. Those things matter.

Yes, that's right, for a country that has never qualified for the World Cup finals, it must be a matter of pride for them when they manage to compete in the World Cup. With the addition of quotas from each continent, it will create a greater chance of becoming one of the teams participating in the World Cup later.
I think they will definitely try hard to improve their quality. They also definitely don't want to just be a complement and fill in the empty slots. It should also be remembered that now besides Europe, countries outside Europe are slowly being able to talk a lot about the World Cup. We can take an example from the recently completed World Cup. How many surprising teams there are.

This new initiative by fifa by adding more teams can be good as there are possibilities that New teams can emerge on football horizon and talented names will be added in football world.
Really looking forward to watching more and more Asian teams in world cup 2026 .

[Leviathan.007]

In fact, most of the European teams are much better and they have better quality comparing African or Asian teams If you check the FIFA ranking or the teams who won the world cups in the past they were mostly European countries or some American counties like Brazil and Argentina that's why I think to have a world cup with better quality, if were are going to see more teams in the next world cup most of these teams should be europian.

It's not just about the teams that win, it's about the teams that participate and bring honor to their nation as well with whatever they have. If a team is destined to lose all their games in the group stages but end up winning at least one, even that makes the nation happy, or if they are calculated as not going out of the group stages, but they do end up going out of the group stages, it doesn't matter if they lose the next game, they did better than expected.

These matter too for the nations and even though we only remember the winners, can you forget Morocco being so good? I am sure Moroccans will never forget that for many years. Those things matter.

Yes, that's right, for a country that has never qualified for the World Cup finals, it must be a matter of pride for them when they manage to compete in the World Cup. With the addition of quotas from each continent, it will create a greater chance of becoming one of the teams participating in the World Cup later.
I think they will definitely try hard to improve their quality. They also definitely don't want to just be a complement and fill in the empty slots. It should also be remembered that now besides Europe, countries outside Europe are slowly being able to talk a lot about the World Cup. We can take an example from the recently completed World Cup. How many surprising teams there are.

But the positive side of the story about letting other countries and nations enter the world cup is they can get motivated and get a better effect on their team after they can have the chance to play in the important tournaments and against strong teams, they normally can't play and it will have effect in their country because it can let more people watch the world cup of all over the world comparing to other world cups we saw before.

[nullama]

~snip~
In fact, the previous world champions were only European national teams and Uruguay, Brazil and Argentina from South America.
The fact is that African and Asian football has progressed significantly in recent years, which can be seen in the examples of the success of South Korea in 2002 and Morocco last year, but the best football is still played in Europe and South America.
In recent years, very good football players have come from Africa, such as Salah and Mane, but the African national teams are not yet at the level of the best national teams in the world.
Therefore, the inclusion of additional teams from Asia, Africa and North America will definitely reduce the quality of the world cup.

I agree.

Just by increasing slots to African and Asian countries it won't miraculously make them better.

We saw that with Qatar, every game they played it was painfully obvious that they were not at the required level to be there.

I guess this will become a bit more common in the next world cup, where more countries will qualify that don't really have the level we are used to see in the world cup.

[alegotardo]

I agree.

Just by increasing slots to African and Asian countries it won't miraculously make them better.

We saw that with Qatar, every game they played it was painfully obvious that they were not at the required level to be there.

I guess this will become a bit more common in the next world cup, where more countries will qualify that don't really have the level we are used to see in the world cup.

I partially support your view.
I believe that the Qatar team really was a big disappointment, although that is to be expected from host countries, I believed that their performance would be better.
I also agree that the increase in the number of places for the World Cup is a mistake.
However, I disagree that Africa does not deserve more space or that they have weak teams.
In the last world cup we could notice that the power of African football is above many European teams, and I don't believe that that was just luck or an isolated fact.
We need to stop discrediting African football and give those players the respect and prestige they deserve.

[Sithara007]

I agree.

Just by increasing slots to African and Asian countries it won't miraculously make them better.

We saw that with Qatar, every game they played it was painfully obvious that they were not at the required level to be there.

I guess this will become a bit more common in the next world cup, where more countries will qualify that don't really have the level we are used to see in the world cup.

It is not like additional slots are being given to Asian and African teams, not to improve their quality. This is a big misunderstanding. Additional slots are being given to them, because already there is an improvement in their quality. The previous allocation was based on the strength of teams half a century back, when Asian and African teams were quite weak. That is the reason why AFC/CAF were allotted so few slots compared to UEFA, for the 2022 Qatar edition. That mistake will be rectified for the 2026 edition.

[Strongkored]

The fact is that African and Asian football has progressed significantly in recent years, which can be seen in the examples of the success of South Korea in 2002 and Morocco last year

Japan and South Korea are teams in Asia that have experienced a lot of progress, especially Japan, not because they were able to beat Germany but being able to qualify for the knockout rounds is an achievement and Iran also a power team from Asia, this is quite surprising because the country's conditions are not so conducive, but the national team can still play in the World Cup.
Saudi Arabia is working hard to develop their league but not sure if it will directly impact their national team because as far as I can see the development only affects the popularity of their league. With the increase in the number of participants, Asia will also get an addition but I'm not sure that there will be a new team that will impress because Europe and America have always been the best in the World Cup.

[len01]

I still don't know how exactly they want to have a plan for this world cup, I mean they can let one country host the whole grouping stage and other countries host the other stages one by one, otherwise the teams in the world cup won't have the same situation and it's not fair for some teams to playing in Canada and use the hotels there while other countries play on Mexico and use Mexican training fields and hotels I'm sure some teams will be unhappy and if they get bad results they will blame FIFA for it.

I don't think this is enough excuse, Infact, I don't think this is even an excuse at all..
And trust me, I don't think any of the team would care about where they lodges or the kind of hotels they used, and where other teams lodged, the food the ate and the hotels they used.

I believe they will all focus on their primary reason for being in those countries, and that is to play the football game and try to make their respective countries proud, they are not going there to party of to enjoy themselves, they are going there for a business, when time to party and have fun comes, I believe each of those players have more than enough money to afford himself any type of hotel in any part of the world he likes.

I disagree with you, there is a huge difference if your team plays in Canada where you can have better weather situations and better hotels, and in Mexico there you can't find this quality there. Regardless of that, I'm sure the quality of the stadiums and the fields are not the same in these three countries, and having a bad-quality field can be a reason for some players to get injured. That's why I guess this can be very important for any team to play in a country where they can get better services.

especially the weather of the country itself. because the weather can also affect the health of these ball players if the weather is bad, of course these players will experience pain and their game performance will decrease.
well, from this it must be very influential in choosing a country to be the host. regarding the stadium that is used, of course FIFA also has stadium standards that will be considered appropriate and choose from one of the stadiums.

so it really influences the weather in a country itself.

[YinShuiSiYuan]

I agree.

Just by increasing slots to African and Asian countries it won't miraculously make them better.

We saw that with Qatar, every game they played it was painfully obvious that they were not at the required level to be there.

I guess this will become a bit more common in the next world cup, where more countries will qualify that don't really have the level we are used to see in the world cup.

It is not like additional slots are being given to Asian and African teams, not to improve their quality. This is a big misunderstanding. Additional slots are being given to them, because already there is an improvement in their quality. The previous allocation was based on the strength of teams half a century back, when Asian and African teams were quite weak. That is the reason why AFC/CAF were allotted so few slots compared to UEFA, for the 2022 Qatar edition. That mistake will be rectified for the 2026 edition.

If Asian and African teamsarw weak in football that doesn't mean that don't deserve to play in fifa , if they are coming at level of qualification to play than why not giving them a chance to participate and show their skills .
You never know how things will be and how many new talents will be explored during this process.

[Leviathan.007]

~snip~
In fact, the previous world champions were only European national teams and Uruguay, Brazil and Argentina from South America.
The fact is that African and Asian football has progressed significantly in recent years, which can be seen in the examples of the success of South Korea in 2002 and Morocco last year, but the best football is still played in Europe and South America.
In recent years, very good football players have come from Africa, such as Salah and Mane, but the African national teams are not yet at the level of the best national teams in the world.
Therefore, the inclusion of additional teams from Asia, Africa and North America will definitely reduce the quality of the world cup.

I agree.

Just by increasing slots to African and Asian countries it won't miraculously make them better.

We saw that with Qatar, every game they played it was painfully obvious that they were not at the required level to be there.

I guess this will become a bit more common in the next world cup, where more countries will qualify that don't really have the level we are used to see in the world cup.

I think if they want to increase the slots for this world cup they need to increase the Eorioan team's numbers more than other teams because, in any world cup, we see there are many European top teams that can't get qualified because there are not enough slots for them which can be a reason to say the increasing number of European teams can even increase the quality of the world cup.