So how do you determine the pots?
by DakotaDomer (2017-01-10 13:39:37)

In reply to: World Cup 2026 is expanding to 48 teams  posted by miamioh_irishfan



16 1-seeds (likely 10 Euro clubs, 5 SA ones, and 1 Africa or CONCACAF)

16 "2-seeds" which will be another 10 Euro clubs and then maybe 6 AFrican clubs?

16 "3-seeds" of 6 CONCACAF clubs, 5 Asia clubs 1 Oceania, and then something, something, math


The point is...if that goes down, either Africa or CONCACAF is going to end up in pot 3 and the good teams in those federations are going to end up in a group of death every 4 years. It happens now for sure...but the margin for error is even smaller for the USA in this system.

The only way to prevent it (and help the US) is a federation blind potting system. 16 1-seeds, 16 2-seeds, 16 3-seeds based on the FIFA national ranking which, while biased, would at least prevent Groups of Death for us. (usually)