The 2026 FIFA World Cup, co-hosted by the United States, Canada, and Mexico, will feature more teams, more games, and more host nations than ever before — leaving a critical question: How much is too much?
With an expanded 48-team format played out over nearly six weeks, critics warn the tournament risks diluting FIFA's most prized product.
Dilution of quality
"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.
"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."
A truly global tournament
FIFA President Gianni Infantino says the expansion will make the game "truly global" and create opportunities for countries that "would never have dreamed to participate" in a World Cup.
Four nations will be making their debut: Curaçao (the smallest by population ever to qualify), Jordan, Cape Verde, and Uzbekistan. Haiti has qualified for the first time since 1974.
"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.
"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."
Player welfare concerns
Maheta Molango, chief executive of England's Professional Footballers' Association, has been a leading voice 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."