Nominate four host countries, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Azerbaijan and Sri Lanka.
Take a bunch of smaller soccer nations, sprinkle in a handful of more renowned teams.
Shake, divide into five groups, it’s ready!
The international federation has just lifted the veil on its latest creation, the Fifa Series, a competition consisting of friendly matches, in groups and on a single site, in the four corners of the globe.
The first edition will be held, on an experimental basis, from March 18 to March 26.
If successful, the formula will be continued from 2026, with one edition every two years, in March.
The concept is based on the idea of bringing together 20 nations, more or less modest, from different confederations, and who are therefore not used to meeting each other.
Thus, the group bringing together Vanuatu, Guinea, Bermuda and Brunei.
The teams on the starting line for this experiment were selected on a voluntary basis.
Algeria and South Africa are the two most exclusive nations to line up, the only two to have played in the World Cup in the last 25 years.
Conversely, selections such as Sri Lanka, Brunei or Mongolia are much less rated.
Fifa has not leaked anything about how it intends to retain the teams for possible future editions.
All matches of the same group will be played in the host country of the said group, of which there are four: Algeria, Azerbaijan, Sri Lanka, all three participants, and Saudi Arabia, host country of two groups , but whose selection does not line up for the Fifa Series.
Useful clarification, each team will only be opposed to two of the three other teams in its group.
The five groups are:
Algeria Group - Algeria, Andorra, Bolivia, South Africa
Azerbaijan Group - Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Mongolia, Tanzania
Saudi Arabia Group A - Cape Verde, Cambodia, Equatorial Guinea, Guyana
Saudi Arabia Group B - Bermuda, Brunei, Guinea, Vanuatu
Sri Lanka Group - Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Central African Republic, Papua New Guinea