FIFA confirms a historic change: the 2026 World Cup will have 48 teams and the champion must play 8 games

FIFA held a new summit this Tuesday in Rwanda, where the new

for the next World Cups to be played will be approved.

From 2026, 48 teams will participate and 104 matches will be played.

As of the new meeting, in which Claudio Chiqui Tapia is present, the new modality of the World Cups will be confirmed, which will have 12

(four more groups), in which they will qualify for the following stage the first two of each and the 8 best third.

In this way,

.

final and not from eighth.

With 104 matches in total, the World Cup will last two weeks longer than usual, with a month and a half being the duration that they will have.

United States, Mexico and Canada 2026 will be the first venue that will have this new format.

Therefore, the qualifying format of each confederation will be modified and more countries will have more chances to qualify for the most important competition at the national team level.

In conclusion, it is possible to say that the Argentine National Team was the last national team to be world champion in a format with 32 teams.

Photo: Fernando de la Orden - Leo Messi lifts the World Cup at the Lusail Qatar stadium

What would the CONMEBOL tie look like?

As of the qualifiers that begin to be played towards 2026, the quotas that CONMEBOL would contribute would be six qualifiers plus a playoff.

That is, 10 of the teams that participate in the Qualifiers, 7 will have the chance to participate in the World Cup.

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