AFC: 8 direct slots (increased from 4.5)
CAF: 9 direct slots (increased from 5)
CONCACAF: 6 direct slots (increased from 3.5)
CONMEBOL: 6 direct slots (increased from 4.5)
OFC: 1 direct slot (increased from 0.5)
UEFA: 16 direct slots (increased from 13)
* The host country would also automatically qualify for the FIFA World Cup, and its slot would be taken from the quota of its confederation.
The above allocation accounts for 46 of the 48 participating teams. The proposal reviewed by the Bureau of the Council includes a play-off tournament involving six teams to decide the last two FIFA World Cup berths: One team per confederation with the exception of UEFA + one additional team from the confederation of the host country...
My personal thought is that this pretty much includes every competent nation from each confederation. I'm not sure how thrilling qualifying will be in 2026. Perhaps qualifying will be more like the Olympics where you let your youngsters get their feet wet.
can still play.
So both Costa and Rica can qualify
but that achievement will become forgotten once they open up the World Cup to more teams.
By smallest you meant population, right?
A CONCACAF country might be the best bet for future record holder too...we got some of the smallest soccer playing countries in the world
They're second in their WCQ group after a very strong showing in the last Euros. Only a quarter the size of T&T - about 300,000 people.
They are getting sufficiently screwed in terms of the increase
UEFA and CONMEBOL, collectively, make up just over 30% of the votes. AFC, CAF, and CONCACAF, collectively, account for 64% of the vote. Also of note, the only two confederations that, by themselves, can form a majority are EUFA and CAF. It's not terribly surprising that we'd see AFC, CAF, and CONCACAF get more of an increase, both because the current allocation is skewed heavily toward CONMEBOL and UEFA, and because the voting structure favors the confederations that are proportionately underrepresented.
So let's go to some numbers:
Increase: Total/% of Prev/% of new Berths
AFC 3.5 / 77.8 / 25.0
CAF 4.0 / 80.0 / 28.6
CONCACAF 2.5 / 71.4 / 17.9
CONMEBOL 1.5 / 33.3 / 10.7
OFC 0.5 / 100% / 03.6
EUFA 3.0 / 23.1 / 21.4
Overall: Old Berth % / New Berth % / Nation % / % of nations getting berths (old) / % of Nations getting berths (new)
AFC 14.1 / 17.4 / 21.8 / 9.8 / 17.4
CAF 15.6 / 19.6 / 25.6 / 9.3 / 16.7
CONCACAF 10.9 / 13.0 / 16.6 / 10.0 / 17.1
CONMEBOL 14.1 / 13.0 / 4.7 / 45.0 / 60.0
OFC 1.6 / 2.2 / 5.2 / 4.5 / 9.1
EUFA 40.6 / 34.8 / 26.0 / 23.6 / 29.1
Number of members:
uefa 55
CAF 54
afc 46
Concacaf 35
ofc 11
conmebol 10
My suggestion would be that, rather than awarding a set number of berths to the confederations, that the number of berths be awarded based on the relative strength of the confederations as determined by a formula (one could simply suggest they be divided in proportion to the number of teams each confederation has in the top 50, with a minimum number of 1, though I imagine that the Rankings system would need to be upgraded).
Having a population of people who actually give a shit about the sport and will watch the games should count for something as well.
It's like saying North Dakota should have the same voting power in a Presidential Election as California.
Are all nations funding FIFA in dues and rights revenue in the exact same amount? THere's no way in hell the rights revenue is true....is the dues revenue even true? Do national federations all buy-in to FIFA in the same amount?
More than half of their teams will qualify, which means all their quality is guaranteed to get in, basically.
Those aren't great nations, but that's much tougher sledding than anyone in North America, Africa or Asia would face. I could certainly understand why my buddies in Ecuador would be a little pissed seeing countries like the UAE, Burkina Faso, New Zealand and Haiti waltzing into the tournament while they're sitting at home.
Once again, the way that FIFA has bent over for Asia is a fucking embarrassment. What a bunch of fucking cuckolds.
The tournament would now include every decent team in the world, and some pretty dogshit ones, too.
Why the fuck does Asia deserve 8 fucking spots? UAE and Qatar would actually qualify? And 9 teams for Africa means any team with a pulse would get in every single time.
The only confederation with any semblance of competition in qualifying would be UEFA and CONMEBOL.
But this is what happens when you don't restrict determination of how the game's structure is to be run to the teams/programs that actually generate the real interest and enthusiasm.
It's the same problem with college football. A bunch of shit programs want to eat at the big boys table in the name of equity even though they don't bring anything to the table. At least in college football, the big boys most made voting rules that were in their favor, and were willing to leave if things ever got too bad.
The Emirs might change their tune after being subjected to repeated 8-0 butt-plunderings.
I hope the US gets a shot at some of those assholes in 2022 (Qatar in this case) or 2026, with an even stronger team than we have now, and that we run it up. Really run it up.
see this guy get pulled out of retirement and assigned to us:
Money money money money money money money money money money money money money money money.
Sorry, I mean it's to 'grow the game'.
I don't really like it either.
But, it would make it the biggest sports event in the world, bar none. We may see less injuries to world-class players as they won't be asked to shoulder as many qualifying games. And the Irish are likely to make more appearances, which always makes for a better tournament.
CONCACAF gets a huge boost and so does Africa. USA would then be a lock to get in every time. I agree with critics who say the current president is just pandering for votes.
Link shows how the 2018 World Cup would look today.
Saudi Arabia, UAE and Qatar would all qualify for the 2018 WC.