Sincere suggestion here - make it something more like the old European Cup

Basically, get rid of the group stage and drastically change the qualification, because both become so low-stages in a 64 team tournament as to be a bit pointless.

Every national team in the world takes part - entries are staggered like in the FA Cup, using the FIFA rankings to decide who enters when. There are regionalised rounds of two-leg knockout ties until you get to the last 128, then teams can be drawn against anyone in the world for the round of 128 and round of 64, again two leg knockout. This runs through the current international calendar, with the round of 64 taking place in the March before the main tournament. Then the last 32 play in the final rounds in June/July - straight knockout to the end.

That way, you deal with the tournament being too big for any single country to host it, you keep the best things about the current set-up - access to more countries and the opportunity to play the bigger sides, knockout football being geuinely good - and get rid of the bits that don't work so well.

Downsides for FIFA are less television money, and not being able to electioneer by promising to expand the tournament (which is really the main card for any presidential candidate) so it might not happen, but I think it would be better ...

Posted By: Ottosson Foxtrot on July 13th 2026 at 11:28:39

Message Thread

The 64-team World Cup seems to be edging closer (Other Football) - jamesward, Jul 13, 10:13:32
- I think it’s good (Other Football) - Chair_of_the_Bored, Jul 13, 19:09:46
- Might as well be 64 if it's going to be 48 (n/m) (Other Football) - phrankin, Jul 13, 12:46:57
- Eventually FIFA will need to incite civil wars in order to create more countries or (Other Football) - Legacy Fan, Jul 13, 11:49:51
  - Disunite the States, then you've got 50 new countries (Other Football) - Ottosson Foxtrot, Jul 13, 12:00:00
    - Better for everyone? (Other Football) - Legacy Fan, Jul 13, 12:05:19
      - It would be very funny, and they would mostly bother each other, I reckon (n/m) (Other Football) - Ottosson Foxtrot, Jul 13, 12:49:51
- sack off club football (Other Football) - Charles21, Jul 13, 11:33:31
  - I think we can all agree it needs tweaking and changing as often as possible (Other Football) - Lentil Weaver, Jul 13, 11:37:47
  - One group of 64, everyone plays everyone else once (Other Football) - jamesward, Jul 13, 11:36:05
- Not surprising. It’s not about what is best for football (Other Football) - Chopper, Jul 13, 11:30:29
- Sincere suggestion here - make it something more like the old European Cup (Other Football) - Ottosson Foxtrot, Jul 13, 11:28:39
  - As long as Italy have to enter the round of 128 (Other Football) - jamesward, Jul 13, 11:46:16
  - stopped reading at 'Downsides for FIFA...' (Other Football) - CWC, Jul 13, 11:39:47
    - Free 5 day subscription to Training Cam with every bottle of pepsi (Other Football) - Lentil Weaver, Jul 13, 11:41:38
- Games to be split into 6 15 minute periods. Unlimited subs (n/m) (Other Football) - Lentil Weaver, Jul 13, 10:28:20
  - everyone to everyone else, deemed home and away, but actually all in Saudi (n/m) (Other Football) - paulg, Jul 13, 11:03:08
    - "to play" (n/m) (Other Football) - paulg, Jul 13, 11:03:19
  - Bonus goals awarded to the team with the best bull rider (n/m) (Other Football) - Under soil heating, Jul 13, 10:47:35
    - Cheerleaders and marching bands during the hydration breaks (n/m) (Other Football) - Old Git, Jul 13, 10:52:06
      - Staged kiss cam and mascots throwing pop corn over 'celebrities' (n/m) (Other Football) - Lentil Weaver, Jul 13, 10:53:48
        
        Cannons firing merch into the stands (n/m) (Other Football) - Old Git, Jul 13, 11:08:40
        
        Players wearing headsets like the refs. They get interviewed during subs (Other Football) - Lentil Weaver, Jul 13, 11:39:31
- 128 team World Cup would make more sense (n/m) (Other Football) - Ken Breadstick, Jul 13, 10:19:06
  - It’s like the old days of RAM (Other Football) - Old Git, Jul 13, 10:39:26
    - My first desktop had 4mb of ram, 128mb hard disk, 25hz sx processor (Other Football) - Chris Peacock, Jul 13, 10:48:59
  - Every team in the world? (Other Football) - jamesward, Jul 13, 10:21:00
    - also, every year in every continent (n/m) (Other Football) - Tombs, Jul 13, 10:49:04
      - 24 host nations (n/m) (Other Football) - jamesward, Jul 13, 10:50:59
        
        at the highest altitude possible in the hottest/coldest environs (Other Football) - Tombs, Jul 13, 10:57:01

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