When you are the largest sporting event on earth, what do you do next?
Get bigger, naturally.
World soccer’s governing body, FIFA, has never been short on ambition. But this year’s World Cup feels almost imperial. For the first time, three nations will host: the United States, Mexico, and Canada. And also for the first time, 48 nations will compete, up from 32.
Why We Wrote This
This year’s World Cup is the biggest ever, with more hosts, more teams, and more newcomers to the tournament. As a result, the competition may not look quite the same as it has in years past.
But how will all this work? And what should fans expect? Here’s a quick guide to the newest iteration of soccer’s grandest extravaganza.
The new format
The World Cup has used a 32-team format since 1998. Before that, there were 24 teams, and before that (until 1978), there were 16.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino made expansion a big part of his candidacy for the job back in 2016. To no one’s surprise, the new World Cup is expected to make more money. The 2022 edition had revenues of $7.5 billion. That is expected to climb to $8.9 billion this year.
But there’s also the simple fact that more nations want to be a part of the sport’s signature showcase. Every four years, countries from Germany to Argentina see the World Cup as a semi-holiday, with huge public watch parties in parks and pubs packed to standing room.
A World Cup with 48 teams fundamentally changes who can reasonably expect to join. Four nations qualified for their first World Cup this cycle, and while Jordan and Uzbekistan might not seem too outlandish, there is also Cape Verde and Curaçao. If Curaçao (population 156,000) can make a World Cup, then the door is well and truly open for pretty much everyone.
The teams will be divided into 12 groups of four for the opening round-robins. The top two teams in each group, as well as the eight best third-place teams, advance to the knockout rounds. That means this year’s knockout round will have as many teams as the previous World Cup had in total.
It also means more games played over the course of the tournament, increasing from 64 to 104 all told. The two finalists will now have to play eight games, not seven, and the tournament will last one week longer (up to 39 days from 32 last time).
Pity the poor soccer stars. Premier League champion Arsenal, for example, just finished its season on May 30. If England plays Spain in the World Cup final, seven of Arsenal’s international players (four English, three Spanish) could end up with less than two weeks off before their preseason begins.
Three hosts
Co-hosting is not new for the World Cup. Japan and South Korea jointly hosted the 2002 World Cup. And the European Championships (a World Cup-style event only for European nations) have done it three times: Netherlands-Belgium in 2000, Austria-Switzerland in 2008, and Poland-Ukraine in 2012. The 2020 Euros went so far as to have 11 host nations.
This, it seems, is the future. We’ve already seen this trend with the Winter Olympics, which are increasingly splintering into many host areas as a way to defray the logistical and financial burden of holding such a massive event. With the World Cup expanding to 48 teams, single-nation hosts could become rare. The 2030 World Cup will again have three hosts: Spain, Morocco, and Portugal.
Traditionally, the first game of the tournament involves the host nation and a formal opening ceremony. This year, there will be three “opening ceremonies,” starting June 11 in Mexico City (featuring Mexico vs. South Africa), followed by games in Toronto (with Canada vs. Bosnia-Herzegovina) and Los Angeles (with U.S. vs. Paraguay) on June 12.
This year, 11 of the 16 host cities are in the U.S., with three in Mexico and two in Canada. The final will be in New York.
Jennifer Gauthier/Reuters
The new teams and the favorites
Though four teams will be new to the World Cup, another six will be making only their second World Cup appearance: Bosnia-Herzegovina, Haiti, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, Panama, and Qatar.
Canada (making its third appearance) lost all six games in its prior World Cup visits. The Democratic Republic of Congo (as Zaire) lost by a combined 0-14, including a 0-9 loss to now defunct Yugoslavia, in its three matches in 1974.
This raises questions about the opening round. Will the presence of these comparative minnows, combined with 32 teams advancing to the knockout stages, mean a lack of drama? Has the new format made the first few weeks a soccer festival without much intrigue as to who will actually advance? Or could it be the perfect setup for a few fairy-tale stories?
No team from outside Europe or South America has ever won the World Cup. Only three nations outside those two continents have ever even made it to the semifinals: Morocco in 2022, South Korea in 2002, and (gasp!) the U.S. in the inaugural 1930 World Cup.
No one is expecting a breakthrough this year. The favorites begin with Spain and France; with England, Brazil, Portugal, and Argentina not too far behind. The Blue Sharks of Cape Verde and the Blue Wave of Curaçao would surely celebrate a single win, or maybe just a few goals.
Just don’t tell them their place wasn’t earned. For the second World Cup in a row, four-time champion Italy failed to qualify and will be watching from home.