thought it was a prediction generated after the group stage with wrong inputs from group E

nm

They are ruining group play for 2026 anyways

You should definitely get on it and make threads for the tournament already. Those are always a fun read.

I think holders don’t automatically qualify anymore because otherwise they get punished with a lot more lolfriendlies for the next 4 years.

So with this whole expansion to 48 teams, I thought "**** it, just make it 211* teams". Would make the whole thing a bit more like the Olympics, and you could ditch the ~900 qualifying matches as well. Can still hold the tournament in six weeks if there are enough stadiums, which shouldn't be a problem with multiple hosts.

8 matches a day for Round 1 to 3 (two concurrent matches three hours apart, like 12pm, 3pm, 6pm, 9pm)

Round 1 (Day 1-11, Match 1-83): Bottom 166 teams play a knock-out round. 83 winners advance to the 128-team-bracket with the top 45.
Round 2 (Day 12-19, Match 84-147)
Round 3 (Day 20-23, Match 148-179)
Round 4 (Day 24-27, Match 180-195)
Round 5 - Round of 16(Day 28-31, Match 196-203)
Round 6 - Quarter-Finals (Day 32-35, Match 204-207)
Round 7 - Semi-Finals (Day 37+38, Match 208-209)
Round 8 - Final (Day 41) (no 3rd place match, ldo)

FWIW, here's how a current bracket would look with FIFA rankings: https://challonge.com/FIFAWCBracket

Upsides:
- Lots of football, no meaningless qualifying/group matches.
- A top 45 team still has to play 7 matches to win the title
- Top teams can ease into the tournament with their opening match
- Massive lolz if England drops out to Namibia in Round 2
- More $$$ for FIFA?

Downsides:
- Probably a lot of ****ty games, I guess?

* or however many members FIFA has at the time of the tournament.

Haha, nice one!

With the expansion to 48, your job of making a thread for the qualifying will be over, though. I mean, yeah there will be qualifying, but everybody qualifies. Do we need a thread where we talk about whether Bangladesh or Bhutan go through?

We can have discussions whether we should have 1, 11 or 83 threads for Round 1 though.

you need to throw some group games in there. you can't send teams home after having only played one game. nobody at fifa will vote for that

I mean, given there is about ~100 countries that would otherwise never qualify, this format hypothetically might even get a majority. I mean, that's probably one of the reasons Infantino is pushing the 48 team expansion in the first place.

Having group games with 200+ teams obviously blows up the number of games drastically. Even with the all-KO-game format, it's probably enough of a logistical nightmare already

I would support the 48-team format if they made it 16 groups of teams, with only the winners advancing into the round of 16. None of this "should we lose on purpose to get the easier side of the bracket BS" would ever happen again.

FIFA wants a round of 32 for more games and more $$$$$$$ though.

No, FIFA wants a round of 32 so the winner still has to play 7 games.

Is there any official data how much did bookies make during this World Cup? I have a feeling it's a LOT

hey you guys aren't gonna believe this but Olli Jeroo is still 4 goals away from France.3
didn't even get a shot on target in the tournament lololol


Griezmann gonna pass him before too long
and Mbappe ldo

If changes are needed I’d make the euros 32 team and wc 64 and leave it at that; while it somewhat makes a farce of qualifying (well they’re doing that now anyway as far as I understand with this nations thing) - I just hate the idea of knockout tournaments not in 2^x and all that matters is the final tournament. For the euros, with diluting the quality, I think having 2/4 qualifying makes for a better group stage than having 2/3rds of 3rd place teams making it although I could be wrong. Plus the netherlands might have a chance and a tournament needs them. I also think the top 32 sides in europe still make for a good tournament. As for the WC having 2/3 teams qualifying from a group seems just silly and I think the quality retains somewhat with 64.
Again there are many other factors to consider; some thinking that 8 games is too much for finalists and logistical issues with the increase in number of games but spectacle should comes first and therefore how group play operates is quite an important factor.

Who can believe that France can win this World Cup?
I think that England is a stronger football team.
Just look at their performance
I hope that on World Cup - 2022 they will win.

Lalolutu more like lol at u

I keep seeing FIFA teams of the tournament that include Ashley Young and Dejan Lovren.
I do hope this isn't serious and the result hasn't really been leaked.


The full team that appears to be doing the rounds is:

Lloris

Trippier
Varane
Lovren
Young

Paulinho
Modric

Hazard
Greizmann
Neymar

Mbappe

Obv fake. Even FIFA wouldn’t be stupid enough to put Paulinho in. He was legit the worst player of the tournament for Brazil, yes worse than Jesus.

i heard it's coming home

But i watched ESPN and i don't get it. When will Russian ultras be taking Swedish gay soccer fans to the woods, to make them participate in fight clubs on horses...
Have they returned safe, did they have a good time...

newsweek.com/croatia-world-cup-team-invites-pro-fascist-singer-celebrates-nazi-salutes-and-1038105