http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soc...nts-to-expand-world-cup-to-48-teams-1.2897042 Idiotic move to appease the "lesser" federations who the cabal of FIFA bods rely on to keep them in power.
Obviously delighted the euros was expanded as I have went to the last two to support Ireland, howver was a much better tournament with less teams. Expanding the World Cup would be nuts. Like everything these days it's all about exploring 'new markets' to get more advertisers and make more cash. No one really cares about what happens on the pitch as long as the tv deals and MasterCard sponsorships keep rolling in
What country's would have the resources to host a 48 team tournament? Very few. Euro's are a great example of why you should leave a good product alone. 16 team comp of excellent quality got watered down. WC group stage is already completely rubbish with maybe 4-5 really good games max..... adding more inferior teams (while boosting revenue) will drag the overall spectacle down further. FIFA is all about the $$$$
Not many remember that when Ray Houghton stuck the ball in the net in Stuttgart it was only an eight country tournament with Germany automatically entered as hosts. This sounds like a crazy idea, I have been very against crazy Uefa decisions in the past like increasing the size of the Champions League to 48 teams or moving that competition to weekends. Thankfully sense prevailed but when it comes to Fifa, I would rule nothing out, probably a large block of African votes would be in favour, maybe South America might want more than the 4.5 teams they get qualified at the moment. Also think of the kids it would be near impossible to fill a Panini sticker album.
The Euros at 16 teams was an excellent format. It was basically the best teams in the world cup minus the South American teams.
48 teams would be nuts. Imagine how long it would take to get the group games out of the way. No one could afford to follow their team as the tournament would be longer than a month surely!
I always though the euros with 8 teams was the best quality. It was the top teams in the qualifying groups and hosts, every game had a knock out feel. When you think back to Gary McKays goal. I still believe qualifying for euro 88 is the best achievement in Irish football. There are more countries now in europe though, so I think the optimum number is 16, 24 is too many. wrt to the World cup, for me 24 was the right amount. There are too many games now that I couldnt give a toss about. 48 teams!! sure may as well just forget qualifying and let everyone qualify......
This looks like it was something Septic Bladder thought up before being forced out just like playing the man in the moon and other intergalactic dignitaries.
If they do expand it and go with 16 groups of 3 teams I think it means the finalist will only play 1 extra game compared to a 32 team world cup.
They say the tournament will still be done in 32 days as usual. I think it'll be shit though, 16 groups means there will be no decent groups. Like the Champions league, saturation has led to alot of people not even taking notice of the group games, the WC will start at the knock out phase. $$$$ is the only think FIFA cares about. Imagine trying to get hotels etc with that number of games on. would be crazy.
FIFA playing into the clubs hands.More and more games becoming meaningless will see players turning up for less games.Kind of like the situation you get with friendlies now,only qualifiers will start getting the same treatment.We're already seeing players retire from international football with 4 or 5 seasons still in them,as it gets less prestigious it will become more common.Domestic cup football is already the ginger step kid,international football is heading the same way.
16 groups of 3 is nuts. You can imagine the seedings. Germany, Boliva and Gabon in a group. Might as well go straight to knock out with the top seeds. Said it before, I much preferred the world cup and euros with smaller amount of teams. Much better quality of games. In saying that if Ireland are playing in the 48 team World Cup and get in as 48th team, I'll be heading
I'm not too sure I agree it's a bad idea. I enjoyed the expanded Euros this year but I don't follow the international game closely so it's not going to affect me too much. Having said that I'd be delighted for Gabon to qualify!