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hcbaron OP t1_ixoyxe3 wrote

>On January 10, 2017, the FIFA Council chose the fourth option and voted unanimously to expand to a 48-team tournament.[3] The tournament will open with a group stage consisting of 16 groups of three teams, with the top two teams progressing from each group to a knockout tournament starting with a round of 32 teams.[11] The number of games played overall will increase from 64 to 80, but the number of games played by finalists remains at seven, the same as with 32 teams. Each team will play one fewer group match than under the previous format, compensating for the additional knockout round. The tournament will also be completed within 32 days, the same as previous 32-team tournaments.[

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AnselaJonla t1_ixp3de9 wrote

So how's that going to affect the Europe cap? With 8 groups of four teams, FIFA caps European participation at 2 per group. Not all groups have two European teams in right enough (12 out of the theoretical maximum of 16), but they're spread through all the groups.

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hcbaron OP t1_ixpdvoa wrote

UEFA will have 16 teams in 2026. See Slot Allocation section in the link.

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sullg26535 t1_ixqlaa3 wrote

It's going to be much worse as groups matter much less.

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MarylandHusker t1_ixrn5ix wrote

Ehh should functionally be about the same. 4 points to ensure you advance. Winning with 6 gives you a more advantageous knockout game 1.

I’m not really a fan but there are worse things that could ruin footy

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sullg26535 t1_ixrnmmp wrote

The quality of the games will be so much worse though

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MarylandHusker t1_ixrntn4 wrote

Maybe. Hard to say how much worse 60 is than 48 but we’ve already seen wild upsets this year with the lowest seeded teams.

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sullg26535 t1_ixro665 wrote

It's the quality of the groups you wouldn't get a USA England in groups next world cup. You'd get England Iran, and thatd be a good matchup

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ItsCalledDayTwa t1_ixpgav4 wrote

One fewer group match? So the groups in the stage of 32 no longer all play each other? That seems... Deeply imbalanced.

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Fred_Smythe t1_ixphtdq wrote

Sixteen groups of three, thus, two group matches. Which means the first round is basically gonna flush out all of the 0-2 teams but it ALSO means drawing is gonna be the kiss of death so teams are gonna be busting their ass to score in the final minutes of a level match.

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screwswithshrews t1_ixpz67k wrote

So Argentina and Germany would basically be done now under this format?

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JoePizza22 t1_ixq19p7 wrote

No not at all, 2 teams from 3 would go through to the next round. 1 win almost guarantees progression so they would have a must win 2nd game.

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CHRLZ_IIIM t1_ixppk1v wrote

I really like that aspect of it

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InGenAche t1_ixqeobi wrote

It's going to make the early rounds boring as fuck.

Any team 1 or 2 up against a poorer team by half time are just going to coast.

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sourhair t1_ixpw69x wrote

It might be just as likely the third game becomes meaningless if both teams have already beaten the 3rd placed team.

I also foresee issue of teams being on equal points and GD after just 3 rounds.. Who really trusts FIFA to fairly pick which 2 teams go through

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DitsyGritzy t1_ixq26yu wrote

I’m assuming that they force all tied games to go to shootouts. And that they leverage tie breaking procedures (goals allowed, goals scored, # red/yellow cards issued, etc…). And should all else fail…. Coin flip

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Willsmithsdignity t1_ixq0j2m wrote

If there's 16 playoff spots still that 3rd game would be for everything

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TheSpacePopeIX t1_ixqak5u wrote

Does the math on this work out? A draw guarantees that one other team in your group has only 1 point as well.

Plus selling out to try to score but getting scored on instead is a four point swing in your opponents favor,

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muaddib99 t1_ixqbrzj wrote

depends on the order of the games i guess. if you've both played and lost to the other team, but you lost by 2 and they by 1, you're going to be balls to the wall trying to win late because otherwise you're out on goal differential

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TheSpacePopeIX t1_ixqdtlo wrote

I guess, but doesn’t that more or less happen in the current group format?

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TheSpacePopeIX t1_ixqa19v wrote

I mis-understood this in the same way, I thought that they were saying we would see a three-team group, knockout one third of teams, and then proceed as normal. Instead, after the worst team in each group is eliminated, we’ll have a big knockout bracket of 32 teams. World Cup going March Madness on us.

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ItsCalledDayTwa t1_ixqbcu4 wrote

Yeah I thought the round of 32 was the group stage with one fewer match. I think champions league used to do two group stages.

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