It hurts me to think of how long they considered 16 groups of 3, instead of the very obvious and logical 12 groups of 4.

The easiest way to separate teams with identical head-to-head record in the group phase is to incorporate the FIFA Bribe Coefficient. Each team slips a brown envelope to Infantino and whichever amount is greater, that team can progress.

If Infantino really had the balls, he would jump straight to a 64 team world cup with 16 groups of 4

When i looked up the term "corruption" in the dictionary, next to it stood "FIFA".

Tbf, the new 48-team format for the World Cup is effectively just the Euros but with twice the teams and more than double the matches, right?

And Scotland STILL won't be able to qualify for the second stage

Since I have been old enough (Germany 2006), I have watched almost every world cup match possible. With more games in the 2026 group stage than the entirety of the previous tournaments, I'll be missing out on so many games. The current format was perfect, right in the Goldilocks zone.

The problem with only the group winners (+4) advancing is that a) most teams will be out of the running even before their last game b) the draw would be incredibly crucial - which is already a big issue

Your idea for turning 12 groups into 12 group winners + 4 best second-placers is savage, and I approve, but there's gotta be a better way. Sadly, that way is 8 groups, 32 teams. Maths is maths

A 48 team tournament is just so logistically challenging and overrides the incredible product we get from a 32 team tournament (this format was recently used for the womens world cup and it made it a much better tournament). The obvious answer to football becoming more global is to just make a Europa League type for international competition

And somehow, Thogden will still manage to watch all the World Cup matches.

'Meaning 32 teams will still progress'. Missed an opportunity to put a picture of Will Still in there. I expect this level of humour from you. Keep up please (great videos as always, thanks).

There is basically no point in holding the Oceania qualifiers, It's just going to be an automatic New Zealand slot every time

Money, money, money is all Infantino ever thinks about. He will gladly destroy all the joy of the game in the chase of 💰 🤑

If this year’s Afcon has shown me one thing, it’s that having best third team places is actually a good thing because it gives teams a fighting chance till the end and serves as a great motivator to push harder

A few notes: 1. Regarding your claim that the "Group of Death" in 2020 was a formality: it wasn't. Hungary only lost out at the last minute and kept it really close against most of the teams. I specifically remember the game against Portugal in fact. 2. Upsets can still happen. Talking about another group stage (you may mention this later, I'm only at minute 24), the group of death in 2014. Costa Rica was definitely the whipping boy coming into the group, yet they ended up winning it outright. It's more unlikely, sure, which does suck, but it's not impossible. 3. One big positive of more teams is that in general this could push the overall standard of football in countries to a higher level. The World Cup will definitely suffer at first, but as the dream to play for their own nation is more realistic now, they won't just go to use an uncle who lived in Qatar or England or whatever for a few months as justification to play for the big countries, but instead play for their actual home nation. One big example is Erling Haaland, who can now carry Norway. It is Fifa so it's a poorly thought out plan, and I do agree with most of what you said, but those are a few points.

You're wrong about the Euro group stages, particularly that France / Germany / Portugal group in Euro 2020. That group ended up being dramatic on the final day, as Germany needed a late equaliser v Hungary just to qualify.

Alfie, in a world of shorts, reels and tiktoks these viedo essays are a shining light. Thank you

26:21 was clearly directed to Maqwell lol

I like the old format better, but ... The old format had 32 teams, and the new format, after the group stage is left with 32 teams. I think that an extra knockout stage increases the probability of a big team messing up. In the new format, the chances of a big team not reaching the ro 16 is higher than the old format.

The 32 team format is perfect no worry about best third place and all that besides playing in the World Cup should be a privilege not a right

Alfie providing the breakfast viewing. Thanks mate.

love the beautiful way your sarcasm comes across iin the one, well done!

Thank you for this video. Been wondering about all of this for a while!

The best we can hope is an AFCON 2023 outcome for the best third placed teams. It was very suspenseful and gave the incredible journey of Ivory Coast to the finals. Smaller countries shocked the big ones. So let's hope that the standard is as high for the next World Cup (not so likely though).

The state of that hoodie suit that Infantino is clowning about in.

One thing to note is that the New Jersey Final site is, yes, not in NY, but it's 200% in the NY metro area and plays to 2 New-York-Labeled NFL teams.

Another brilliant analysis, so thank you so much for entertaining us on such a grim subject: 👍👌👏!

21:13 finally my home country mentioned in an Alfie video 🇿🇲

Imagine a 64-club World Cup...

just recently become a football manager addict and your content is great to have on in the background! cheers😂

I think you should make a part 2 of this vieo talking about all the things you didn't have the time for in this one. Sounds interesting and important.

3 team groups means we'll have loads of "Gijons"...

Best solution (other than leaving things as they are) would be 16 groups of 3, with only the winners qualifying automatically. The 2nd and 3rd place teams then go into a knockout play off round (i.e. 2nd from group A vs 3rd from group B and vice versa etc.) That way group winners are rewarded with only 7 games and no dead rubbers.

Really good video Alfie, don’t know why but this video just hit different 💪⚽️

every video you upload reminds me how glad I am I found your channel. Entertaining and intelligent content

Mexico has had arguably the best world cups, seeing Pele and Maradona be crowned champions, so I’m excited for this next world cup putting aside the changes made in the format recently

It seems certain that all future World Cups will be hosted by multiple countries.

great vid, allfie. fyi the other two very close stadiums are also seattle and vancouver, it's better to travel by bus or train not plane. it's 2 hour bus ride with the border crossing time included or less than 2 hours by train.

My night time listening thank you for the content love it

Even with this new format, I'm highly doubt that ASEAN countries (including, of course, our country Indonesia) will qualify for the 2026 World Cup. That's really a shame. The ASEAN countries in Asian Cup this year didn't disappoint at all, like Thailand going unbeaten in group stage without conceding a goal and Malaysia playing an entertaining 3-3 draw against South Korea.

33:05 it's a good job that ain't the real world cup draw as you got England playing in 2 groups and Senegal playing in 3 groups

Great video. Other repercussions to this is that the world cup qualifiers become *almost* redundant with the number of teams being increased. South America only has 10 teams, and now 7 can potentially qualify. 70% of the teams. Meaning they're just playing to determine who's the couple of unlucky teams that are *not* going to qualify.

Well done! Best summary I’ve seen so far. I totally agree with elimination of the round of 32 with only 12 group winners + 4 best runners up. Keep it high stakes, high quality. The is the World Cup after all, not a back yard kick about.

I have to disagree strongly with your assessment of the group of death from the 2016 EUROs, Hungary was extremely close to causing an upset and it was one of the most exiting groups at that tournament

New Jersey might as well be NYC in this case Alfie. Technically, you are correct but in practice the stadium they are going to use is the same stadium used by both of NYC's NFL teams.

We need a part 2 for the points you weren't able to get to. Love this video!

My favorite part about the expansion is the possibility for more African countries to qualify. With the former format, it was a brutal battle. I feel like 14 countries have what it takes to go to the WC but now, it will be 9 teams instead of 5. As a surprise, Comoros, my country of origin, is leader of its qualifying group, ahead of Ghana and Mali but there were only 2 games played and 8 need to be played, including two tough away games in Ghana and Mali. My theory : this is a preparation for an expansion at 64 teams by 2036 or 40.

Content, content, content, content! That’s why I love this channel! What I don’t love is that you always say: “change of tact” when the correct saying is “change of tack” - it’s a sailing term! But you continually getting it wrong gets my goat! 😂

What i always hated about the world cup was the fact that coming into the third group game you can know exactly which teams you are going to play if you finnish 1st or 2nd i think that is something that has to be eliminated cause in the last world cup i couldnt help but feel like spain purposely didnt play well in the last game to finnish second to get into what was seemingly the better side of the draw

That accent towards the end, top-notch. After a very long day at work crunching 010101 on my computer, that has absolutely lit my evening.🤣

Also San Marino in November 2023 scored more goals than Brazil

There's always the possibility that teams perceived as 'weak' and not traditionally gifted in football will surprise everyone in their performance. That'd make things way more interesting, from a spectator pov, and make the whole tournament more exciting overall. Plus, I love the idea of the World Cup lasting longer, as it is one of my favorite events to watch every 4 years. ^^

I mean as someone living in Los Angeles I’m excited to meet all the new fans and hopefully I can go to one game (USMNT or any game for that matter). I do wish we got the final instead but I guess the Europeans don’t want to stay up late because of the 8 hour difference.

The problem of 3rd Teams qualifying in a Group of 4 (20:00 on) can be removed in a 48 Team competition - 12 Groups of 4 - 2 Qualify. Wild Card Round of 16 worst qualifiers (Group Winners seeded 9 to 12 plus Runners Up). Then Top 8 Group Winners v Wild Card 8 and on....

33:20 fwiw-there arent any stadiums in NYC, or at least any that would work for the world cup. the two american football teams in “new york” play in new jersey, where there will be games (and the final)

A format idea I heard floated around for a while before we got the new official one, was that you have the 12 groups of 4, but instead of a Round of 32 and then a Round of 16, you have two Rounds of 16. Essentially, the top 8 group winners get a bye to the second Round of 16, and the bottom 4 group winners and all 12 group runners-up advance to the first Round of 16. It means that the amount of games one team would have to play to win the World Cup would be 7 or 8 rather than just 7 in 32-team format, or just 8 in the new official one. However, it would bring back the stakes of the group stage as in a 32-team format, and still give the increase in overall tournament fixtures from 64 in 29 days of a 32-team format, to 96 in this version of a 48-team format, and with 8 less matches than the new official format, it would mean they could schedule with 4-6 fewer calendar dates, so you could have a 33-35 days long tournament, which would benefit clubs as the quote-unquote calendar footprint would be less. However, as we know, 8 more games is 8 more opportunities for revenue that FIFA were definitely going to want, so we digress.

I love the “Today i feel” reference at the end, class😂

😂I just love your sense of humor brother-man with a pinch of sarcasm... You're the best

Qualifying for the World Cup is a prize itself, the 1st time ever Ghana qualified for the WC in 2006, it was a week of celebration.

How to accommodate all the countries in world cup: Fifa world champions cup with 32 teams... Fifa world europa cup with 48 teams... Fifa world conference cup with rest of the teams... All three tournament will be held at the same timeframe... With different hosts...

31:30; I live 4 hours from Kansas City and I make the drive yearly for the MLS. That 28-30 hours by car is going to be tortute.

My plan for 48 teams is 12 groups of 4, top 2 advance. That's 24 which doesn't work for a full knockout, so give the 8 with the most points/best goal diff a bye. Then even if someone wins their first 2 group stage matches, they are still motivated to get a result in the 3rd match to ensure a bye into the round of 16.

The best format nobody is talking about: who said every team that makes the knockout round had to play in the first knockout round? Keep the 12 groups of 4, but the top 2 teams from each group advance. The 8 best group winners automatically to the round of 16, and the rest + the 12 2nd place teams make up a play in round to the round of 16. This keeps the drama of the 2022 World Cup in 2026, while also giving an extra incentive for teams to push for the top of their group and beyond, especially when that benefit is extra rest.

I would love to see a 24 team knockout where the top two in each group advance but the 8 best teams receive a bye to the round of 16. I think that would make the group stage stakes still high and every game would matter.

I'm excited for the 48 team wc actually. The only thing i really wanted was 8 groups of 6. Alot of new teams dont do well in their 1st wc game (nerves) but usually play well by game 3. But then they're already disqualified. 6 game group would actually allow for the best teams to make it thru. Only problem is 6 game group would add way more games

I am excited for the extra teams and extra games. Lots more opportunity for drama and glory! Should be a lot of fun

TBH if the ongoing AFC & CAF championships are anything to go by, the new WC expansion would be a blessing in disguise. That argument is dead on arrival. There are no more big teams walking through easily. Everyone has to earn their keeps.

As a fan of a middle ranked country (Aus), although i know each game will be less meaningful because it won't be against weaker opposition, a win in the world cup still creates an ecstatic feeling and now it's even more likely.

I'm glad Alfie covered (As every video is well researched ) the traveling between cities within each of the regions groups will be playing in. Fans around the world coming to the 2026 World Cup need to understand & research the traveling necessary to follow their Nations games. Group stages being within one region can still require a good deal of traveling, but the new Round of 32 may result in fans traveling coast to coast for countries that Win and Advance. I'm sure they'll try to keep each side of the bracket within one region of the Continent but if your nation advances to Semi-Finals, you could play your group stage in Mexico, knockout rounds in wherever they may be, and travel to Dallas or Atlanta for Semifinal matches, with winners going to New York for final. In other words you'll see a lot of the Continent if you don't fly and take trains or drive (which can be fun making a Road Trip between games and stopping to see famous places along your journey). The other idea is if your group stage games have 2 of 3 games at same stadium, and you just stay in that City to see 2 of your natios matches, plus other played there in between your games is a good idea too. Good Example is the USA team will play group games in LA, seattle , LA, so if you get tickets for 1st and 3rd group game, just sit back and relax in LA! They may have 1 of 2 things to do while there! 🤩🤩🤩 In case anyone isn't familar with LA, Los Angeles ,I was joking as the only question about LA is what don't they have to do & keep anyone entertained??

Make it a 64 or 32 team straight KO tournament, job done

I know this world cup format thing is absolutely insane, but we're in an era where insanity has become the new normal. IDK what to say anymore, man 🤷

Helding the Final at MetLife is an... interesting idea.

Over the course of the 9 tournaments with the 24-team format to which we are now used, 5 teams that finished 3rd in the group phase reached the final: Jordan at the 2023 Asian Cup , Côte d'Ivoire at the 2023 AFCON , Portugal at 2016 Euro, Italy at the 1994 WC and Argentina at the 1990 WC

Hey, good video. When you say that FIFA would divide the world cup into 3 zones that would be just for the group phase? Or in general?

"if they don't sink into the ocean" That was an ice cold dose of satire you're not getting away with mate... Well done.

Based on this year’s AFCON and Asia Cup, I don’t think diluting the quality is a valid complaint about a 48-team format… Instead of thinking about top teams’ chance of failure I think it’s better to think of less highly-evaluated teams’ chance of success.

Great work

I think there should be better way to determine winner , specially in knock out stages take out most luck out equation , like best 3 , similar how in NBA play off , or top 6 teams play round robin to determine the winner

I don't think that the Word Cup is prestigious because of the way you qualify for it but rather the symbol of participating in the biggest international football reunion. Even if the level might decrease, it still only involves less than 25% of all federations which means that it remains fairly selective.

Going from 32 teams to 48 teams is insane. A quarter of the world is now qualified for the world cup! 40 teams would have been perfect. With so many teams and games in the WC there's no point in watching the group stage because only those teams which make it to the next stage will be considered genuinely good enough.

The first-half of this video had me worried that they went back to that awful 16 groups of 3 format haha. Whatever happens in the 12 groups of 4, I'll just be glad that it ain't 16 groups of 3.

21:00 this is basically what happened at this years afcon. The eventual winners, the hosts and one of the teams initially favoured to win the competition - Ivory coast - only progressed from the group stage thanks to one win against outsiders guinea-bissau, despite then being hammered 4-0 by equatorial guinea and losing to nigeria.

As an American, I’m really excited for the extra games and am looking forward to seeing a packed Sounders Pitch (at Lumen Field) in Seattle go nuts for a national team home game, because they almost never play here, much less with so much on the line. Lumen Field is known for its ear bleeding fan noise and a local seismic station which regularly records earthquakes when the fans get excited. I pity the poor saps that end up facing off against us there. I also appreciate that the format is giving Seattle two extra games and hope that our atmosphere wins you over at least a bit. Soccer is thriving in the PNW so this should be less development fodder and more of a coming of age. I also want to thank the World Cup for finally getting us to replace our awful turf with real grass permanently. The stadium was designed so grass could be added at any point, but the Seahawks were dragging their feet.

Thanks to this new group stage my country will finally be able to qualify for a World Cup!!!!!!! (I'm Italian...)

I know somone already said it. Best format would be 8 group of 6 - top of the group get a bye to Round of 16 - 2nd place & third place will advance to play off. Winner of the Play Off to Round of 16. That way: every team will fight until the end. There won't be dead matches.

As I watched this, I kept thinking of Alan Partridge and his attempt at explaining the group system at the 1994 World Cup.

The Cash Grab Cup.

As someone who opposed the idea of groups of 3 from the get go, I'm satisfied with the format. If I was FIFA president, I don't know if I would have the resolve to say, yeah, we are kicking 32 of you after the group stage to keep the traditional round of 16. That's the only way I can reason (deludedly) the idea of having 8 third place teams go through. Here's for the 64 team world cup in 2042!!

I'm for no tournament, but exclusively knockout stages over the course of two years after a seeding bracket. ALL the world's teams. Maybe a Final Four tournament. Losing teams play in losers' brackets for every rank.

33:55 You probably mean the winners of the 12 groups, not 14, and the 4 best second places progress to the round of 16. There aren't "14 groups" of 4 in a 48 team tournament - there's 12 of them.

the USA-Iran match nearly killed me lmao

Didn't realise Al-Kheleifi was ECA president until now :(

in terms of emissisons new jersey/philedelphia to Boston would maybe be about 4 hours driving which could be doable.

you can complete the rest of your notes in a part 2 to this video. really interested in hearing them..

It's absurdly stupid to say that this current format is worse than 3 team groups where sequels to the Disgrace of Gijón would be possible

TBF it is called a world cup, so having more teams involved would make it feel more like a world cup and grand thing. It will also help spread football and develop football in the lesser nations which is what FIFA is here for.

Yes my man....another top quality video about something that is 'hiding' in plain sight and will impact the international teams that tend to be able to cause a shock to the elite countries now and then....Saudi Arabia, Japan even Australia used to have to be taken seriously as a group stage defeat could mean a top team needing to play at 100% to make qualifying certain....now by the sounds of it, certain countries will put out a complete different team from their squad leaving out the A team,which may impact other teams in the group (which will obv mean countries affected will object) which would almost be like 'fixing' or 'choosing' when to 'play well'.....as you say at the end - there's more (much) more about this new format that nobody knows if/how it will work! But it's ok because as there's more countries to vote for FIFA president....I think they will know if there's three or four N's in the name on the ballot!?

I remember in the 2000 Gold Cup it was 3 team groups and Canada got out of the group to the knockout stage by coin flip. They ended up winning the tournament.

I kind of disagree. The World cup is the most important sporting event in the world, so it really doesn't matter what football clubs say. People are always resistant to change, even when the world cup was expanded last time. You can criticize the number of games being played and such imo but the expansions is a great idea. The world of football is becoming increasingly more competitive, and we need to adjust with those factors in mind. An extra round of football will just increase the chances of an upset so i disagree with that point as well. The third-place team concept works very well, we seen it in AFCON this year. It keeps every team playing very hard even on the last matchday because they have a chance. So, the 4th place team will really not give up because they have a chance to qualify in 3rd place. Even the 3rd place team has to try hard because all 3rd place teams don't qualify. FIFA tried to find a way to satisfy everyone instead of just being assertive in its position from the get-go and caused too much confusion.