{"id":283412,"date":"2017-01-10T10:07:05","date_gmt":"2017-01-10T10:07:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=283412"},"modified":"2017-01-10T10:07:05","modified_gmt":"2017-01-10T10:07:05","slug":"world-cup-to-be-expanded-to-48-teams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/01\/world-cup-to-be-expanded-to-48-teams\/","title":{"rendered":"World Cup to be expanded to 48 teams"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"sp-story-body__introduction\">The World Cup will be expanded to host 48 teams, up from 32, Fifa has decided.<\/p>\n<p>An initial stage of 16 groups of three teams will precede a knockout stage for the remaining 32 when the change is made for the 2026 tournament.<\/p>\n<p>The sport&#8217;s world governing body voted through the change at a meeting in Zurich on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>The number of tournament matches will rise to 80, from 64, but the eventual winners will still play only seven games.<\/p>\n<p>The tournament will be completed within 32 days &#8211; a measure to appease powerful European clubs, who objected to reform because of a crowded international schedule.<\/p>\n<p>The changes mark the first World Cup expansion since 1998.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sp-story-body__cross-head\"><strong>Why expand?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Fifa president Gianni Infantino has been behind the move, saying the World Cup has to be &#8220;more inclusive&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking at a sports conference in Dubai in December, Infantino said expansion will also benefit &#8220;the development of football all over the world&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>He added: &#8220;There is nothing bigger in terms of boosting football in a country than participating in a World Cup.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Despite saying &#8220;the decision should not just be financially driven&#8221;, Infantino did highlight the possible financial upsides.<\/p>\n<p>According to Fifa&#8217;s own research,<i class=\"sp-story-body__external-link-icon gelicon gelicon--external\"><\/i> revenue is predicted to increase to \u00a35.29bn for a 48-team tournament, giving a potential profit rise of \u00a3521m.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sp-story-body__cross-head\"><strong>History of World Cup overhauls<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"sp-story-body__table-container\">\n<table class=\"sp-story-body__table\">\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th>World Cup<\/th>\n<th>Teams<\/th>\n<th>Format<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>1930 Uruguay<\/td>\n<td>13<\/td>\n<td>1 group of 4 and 3 groups of 3, with only top team progressing to semi-finals<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>1934 Italy<\/td>\n<td>16<\/td>\n<td>Straight knockout tournament<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>1950 Brazil<\/td>\n<td>13<\/td>\n<td>3 groups of 4 and 1 group of 3, with top side progressing to final group of four<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>1954 Switzerland<\/td>\n<td>16<\/td>\n<td>4 groups of 4, but only 2 games in each group, with top 2 sides through to quarter-finals<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>1958 Sweden<\/td>\n<td>16<\/td>\n<td>4 groups of 4, this time with 3 games. Top 2 sides through to quarter-finals<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>1974 West Germany<\/td>\n<td>16<\/td>\n<td>4 groups of 4 but now followed with 2 groups of 4, the 2 top sides competing the final<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>1982 Spain<\/td>\n<td>24<\/td>\n<td>6 groups of 4 followed by 4 groups of 3, the winner of each qualifying for the semi-finals<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>1986 Mexico<\/td>\n<td>24<\/td>\n<td>6 groups of 4, top 2 sides and 4 best 3rd-placed teams qualifying for round of 16<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>1998 France<\/td>\n<td>32<\/td>\n<td>8 groups of 4, top 2 sides progressing to knockout rounds<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>&#8211;<\/p>\n<p>Source: BBC Sport<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The World Cup will be expanded to host 48 teams, up from 32, Fifa has decided. An initial stage of 16 groups of three teams will precede a knockout stage for the remaining 32 when the change is made for the 2026 tournament. The sport&#8217;s world governing body voted through the change at a meeting [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[142],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>World Cup to be expanded to 48 teams - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/01\/world-cup-to-be-expanded-to-48-teams\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"World Cup to be expanded to 48 teams - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. 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