48 team World Cup (1 Viewer)

covcity4life

Well-Known Member
32 is perfect but at least the format is better than the firs tproposed one where group stage for 16 clubs to join the top 32

now it is 16 groups of 3. 16 eliminated and then 32 knockout. so lots of exciting knockout stage games
 

covcity4life

Well-Known Member
Approved. Terrible idea. I guess it must mean they know where the tournament will be. Can't be many countries that can host anything of this size.

2018: We're going to get our heads kicked in.
2020: We're facing the prospect of getting an 11 hour flight from Baku to Bilbao and getting our heads kicked in again in Russia.
2022: We'll get locked up for opening a can of Stella, holding hands with our partners (male or female) and/or for wearing a pair of shorts in 50° temperatures.
2024: This one will probably be in Germany (1/5 isn't bad!).
2026: Travel several thousand of miles to watch us play San Marino and Greece.

Who's up for it?

san marino wont qualify for a 48 team world cup and greece won euros more recent than england won anything.
 

CJ_covblaze

Well-Known Member
san marino wont qualify for a 48 team world cup and greece won euros more recent than england won anything.

I was using them as an extreme example. Greece won with football very similar to Roy Hodgson and look how he was hammered for years for his style. I don't disagree with him going when he did though.

It'll create a situation when there could be 48 very boring group games and where it'll suit two teams to draw 0-0 to knock the other out. It's happened before and it can happen again.
 

Covstu

Well-Known Member
Mixed feelings about this one, clearly a political decision. I think the ideas of no draws is daft but kind of like the idea of loads of different teams playing. Seems weird that the timescales are the same as 32 teams and would be concerned that countries would struggle to host with this volume of teams and supporters
 

skybluesam66

Well-Known Member
the maximum number of games per team remains the same, but the number of games goes up from 64 to 80

you probably need a minimum of 10 stadiums to cope with that
I would be more concerned with the issues in completing my sticker book though - how many stickers would we have
 

oscillatewildly

Well-Known Member
the maximum number of games per team remains the same, but the number of games goes up from 64 to 80

you probably need a minimum of 10 stadiums to cope with that
I would be more concerned with the issues in completing my sticker book though - how many stickers would we have
Plus, you'd need hands like Pat Jennings to shuffle your swaps.
 

TheRoyalScam

Well-Known Member
I realise that the penalty shoot outs in the group stage will always produce a winner and a loser, however I don't think FIFA have understood that the concept of a three team group is inherently flawed.

The team that plays in both the first two group matches is at a distinct disadvantage, because the two teams contesting the final group match will know exactly where they stand. With only three group matches goal difference could be crucial.

The proof of this argument is the final group match between Germany and Austria in the 1982 World Cup:

'The 3-2 victory still meant Algeria would become the first African team to reach the second round unless the group's final game, to be played the following day, ended in a one- or two-goal win for West Germany over Austria, in which case both the European teams would progress at Algeria's expense. In the 10th minute of that match Horst Hrubesch put the Germans in front. Then … nothing happened. Realising the scoreline suited both of them, Germany and Austria effectively stopped playing. In the ensuing 80 minutes there were no shots, and barely any tackles, crosses or sprints. The game was no longer a contest, it was a conspiracy. The teams' cynicism provoked universal scorn.'
 

Gazolba

Well-Known Member
I'd have gone with one preliminary knock-out round of 24 seeds vs 24 non-seeds to reduce the field to 24. Then 8 groups of three with only the winners advancing to the quarters.
 

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