The expanded 2026 men's World Cup in North America will start with 12 groups of four teams in a change from the original planned format of 16 groups of three, football's world governing body FIFA announced on Tuesday. "The revised format mitigates the risk of collusion and ensures that all the teams play a minimum of three matches, while providing balanced rest time between competing teams," FIFA said. "The groups of four have been absolutely incredible until the last minute of the last match," FIFA president Gianni Infantino said in December.
The expanded 2026 men's World Cup in North America will start with 12 groups of four teams in a change from the original planned format of 16 groups of three, football's world governing body FIFA announced on Tuesday.
The next World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico will be the first to feature 48 teams, a sharp increase from the 32 sides at last year's tournament in Qatar.
There will be 104 matches, a huge rise compared to the 64 games played in the 2022 tournament and an increase even on the original plan that the 2026 World Cup would feature 80 matches.
FIFA's initial plan for 2026 was for 16 groups of three teams, from which the top two countries would advance to the last 32.
The top two teams in each group will go through to the knockout round along with the eight best third-placed sides.
The finalists, and the teams finishing third and fourth, will play a total of eight games instead of the current seven.
The number of venues for the 2026 finals will double, from eight stadiums in Qatar last year to 16.
Eleven venues will be in the USA, with three in Mexico and two in Canada.
The World Cup may be played over a longer period, after Qatar 2022 was held over just 29 days. The final will be held on July 19.