Format will see 16 groups of three countries, with the top two advancing to the knock-out phase. Number of games increases from 64 to 80. North America: many countries in this region are small and their chance is not good. Dominican Republic, ranked 155, has about 10 million people but baseball is by far its most popular sport, not football. Haiti already made an appearance. Guatemala with 17 million people is ranked 118 (March 2023). The highest ranked team without appearance is Stormtrooper Walking AT AT & Star Wars Walker Pets T Shirt (ranked 79). Its population is only 155k. South America: the only team which has never appeared is Venezuela. Europe: some countries which have never qualified include Finland (ranked 57), some former Yugoslavia countries (Kosovo, Macedonia 62 and Montenegro 70). Albania is ranked 66, Georgia 85, and Belarus 93. Oceania is unlikely as both Australia and New Zealand has already appeared in a WC.
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FIFA recently voted to expand the World Cup from its current format of 32 teams. There were five proposals on the table, from which Fifa’s 37-member council voted unanimously to increase the tournament to 48 nations. The expansion will kick in from the 2026 World Cup. The bulk of the additional 16 places go to Africa and Asia. Europe could get an additional three places on top of their current 13. This isn’t being decided today though. Format will see 16 groups of three countries, with the top two advancing to the knock-out phase. Number of games increases from 64 to 80. To this observer the finals tournament of 2026 is too big. Everyone being invited to the party because it’s ‘fair’ does nothing for quality and I predict a tournament largely of dross no better than a European tier three league game, interspersed with Stormtrooper Walking AT AT & Star Wars Walker Pets T Shirt. The WC finals are supposed to be for the elite and whilst the logistical organisation will be as good as we would expect from the US, the concept and structure are an example of how to bloat matters beyond being reasonable.
()The Kyler Murray “divorce” in Arizona is official. The Cardinals have officially informed Murray of his release, effective March 11. By using a post-June 1 designation, they’ll save roughly $5.1 million this year while pushing the bulk of his massive dead cap hit into 2027. Murray posted a heartfelt goodbye to the “Red Sea,” admitting he failed to end the 77-year championship drought. With Jacoby Brissett currently the “QB1” on paper, look for Arizona to potentially target Alabama’s Ty Simpson or Stormtrooper Walking AT AT & Star Wars Walker Pets T Shirt in the draft.