A supersized World Cup with more teams, more games and even more host nations than ever before leaves a big question hanging over the biggest sporting show on earth: How much is too much?
The latest edition of the World Cup — co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico — will push the boundaries of how far the most popular sport on the planet can go before it reaches breaking point.
Format Expansion Raises Quality Concerns
With an expanded 48-team format — up from 32 — played out over nearly six weeks, some say the tournament risks a dilution of FIFA's most prized product.
"I personally think it's kind of taken a little bit of the excitement and quality away from the tournament and it's almost like it doesn't start until the round of 32," former U.S. forward Clint Dempsey told The Associated Press.
The expanded format has effectively removed the chance of several top teams being drawn in the same group — known as a "group of death" in soccer vernacular. Much of the jeopardy traditionally seen in the early stages of the tournament has been removed until the round of 16 because the eight best third-place teams also advance.
"The biggest danger is dilution of spectacle," said Jonathan Wilson, author of The Power and the Glory: A New History of the World Cup. "Maybe FIFA gets away with it this time because it's the first expanded tournament and because ticket prices are enormous. But eventually broadcasters and fans may stop caring if the tournament doesn't become interesting until the last 16."
Player Burnout Threatens Tournament
Be it the limits of physical endurance as top players threaten strike action over an ever-congested calendar, the attention span of fans in an age of seemingly wall-to-wall televised soccer or the exorbitant prices people are prepared to pay for tickets — or even parking — the pressure points are numerous going into the June-July tournament.
Maheta Molango, chief executive of England's Professional Footballers' Association, has been one of the leading voices warning about the impact on top players being asked to play more and more soccer. He says the quality of the product is being diminished and soccer should follow the lead set by the NFL and appreciate the "value of scarcity."
FIFA Defends Global Expansion
FIFA President Gianni Infantino says the expansion of the tournament will make the game "truly global" and create opportunities for countries that "would never have dreamed to participate" in a World Cup.
The theory is that given a greater chance to qualify, more nations would increase grassroots funding and therefore improve the standard of soccer around the globe.
Four nations will be making their debut next month, including tiny Curaçao, the smallest by population ever to qualify.
"It's a big achievement for us to make it, but we also want to show that we can play and that we deserve to be there," Curaçao goalkeeper Eloy Room said.
Jordan, Cape Verde and Uzbekistan are the other debutants. Haiti has qualified for the first time since 1974.
"As children, we all watched the World Cup. We all dreamed of playing in the World Cup. But it was just a dream, a fantasy when you're a child," Haiti midfielder Yassin Fortune said. "Qualifying and being able to participate is unimaginable."