{"id":297450,"date":"2023-03-14T17:17:36","date_gmt":"2023-03-14T17:17:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/haftavasool.com\/haftavasool\/blog\/2023\/03\/14\/world-cup-2026-to-feature-12-groups-of-four-teams-fifa-football-news-times-of-india\/"},"modified":"2023-03-14T17:17:36","modified_gmt":"2023-03-14T17:17:36","slug":"world-cup-2026-to-feature-12-groups-of-four-teams-fifa-football-news-times-of-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/haftavasool.com\/haftavasool\/blog\/2023\/03\/14\/world-cup-2026-to-feature-12-groups-of-four-teams-fifa-football-news-times-of-india\/","title":{"rendered":"World Cup 2026 to feature 12 groups of four teams: FIFA | Football News &#8211; Times of India"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> [ad_1]<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/photo\/msid-98639962,imgsize-21008.cms\" \/><\/p>\n<div>KIGALI: The expanded 2026 men&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/sports\/cricket\/icc-cricket-world-cup-2019\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" data-ga=\"Click-Hyperlink|link_topic-World Cup-https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/sports\/cricket\/icc-cricket-world-cup-2019\" target=\"\" frmappuse=\"1\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">World Cup<\/a> in <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/topic\/north-america\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" data-ga=\"Click-Hyperlink|link_topic-North America-https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/topic\/north-america\" target=\"\" frmappuse=\"1\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">North America<\/a> will start with 12 groups of four teams, a change from the original planned format of 16 groups of three, football&#8217;s world governing body <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/topic\/fifa\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" data-ga=\"Click-Hyperlink|link_topic-FIFA-https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/topic\/fifa\" target=\"\" frmappuse=\"1\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">FIFA<\/a> announced on Tuesday.<br \/>&#8220;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,&#8221; FIFA said of the format for the first World Cup to feature 48 teams, up from 32 sides at the recent tournament in <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/topic\/qatar\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" data-ga=\"Click-Hyperlink|link_topic-Qatar-https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/topic\/qatar\" target=\"\" frmappuse=\"1\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Qatar<\/a>.<br \/>It means that there will be 104 matches played, a huge increase on the 64 games at last year&#8217;s tournament.<br \/>FIFA&#8217;s original plan for 2026, when the World Cup will be held in the <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/topic\/united-states\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" data-ga=\"Click-Hyperlink|link_topic-United States-https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/topic\/united-states\" target=\"\" frmappuse=\"1\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">United States<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/topic\/canada\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" data-ga=\"Click-Hyperlink|link_topic-Canada-https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/topic\/canada\" target=\"\" frmappuse=\"1\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Canada<\/a> and <!-- -->Mexico<!-- -->, was for 16 groups of three teams, from which the top two would advance to a last 32.<br \/>The new decided format means the top two in each group will go through to the knockout round along with the eight best third-placed sides.<br \/>As a result, the finalists, and the teams finishing third and fourth, will play a total of eight games instead of the current seven.<br \/>The decision comes after a dramatic group stage at the tournament in Qatar convinced FIFA that a rethink was needed.<br \/>&#8220;The groups of four have been absolutely incredible until the last minute of the last match,&#8221; FIFA president <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/topic\/gianni-infantino\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" data-ga=\"Click-Hyperlink|link_topic-Gianni Infantino-https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/topic\/gianni-infantino\" target=\"\" frmappuse=\"1\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Gianni Infantino<\/a> said in December.<br \/>Tuesday&#8217;s decision was announced following a <!-- -->FIFA Council<!-- --> meeting in the Rwandan capital Kigali, at which it confirmed the next men&#8217;s World Cup final will be played on Sunday, July 19, 2026.<br \/>Infantino is expected to be waved in for a new four-year term as president as he stands unopposed for re-election at Thursday&#8217;s FIFA <!-- -->Congress<!-- -->.<\/div>\n<p><script>!(function(f, b, e, v, n, t, s) {\n    window.TimesApps = window.TimesApps || {};\n    const { TimesApps } = window;\n    TimesApps.loadFBEvents = function() {\n      (function(f, b, e, v, n, t, s) {\n        if (f.fbq) return;\n        n = f.fbq = function() {\n          n.callMethod ? n.callMethod(...arguments) : n.queue.push(arguments);\n        };\n        if (!f._fbq) f._fbq = n;\n        n.push = n;\n        n.loaded = !0;\n        n.version = '2.0';\n        n.queue = [];\n        t = b.createElement(e);\n        t.async = !0;\n        t.defer = !0;\n        t.src = v;\n        s = b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\n        s.parentNode.insertBefore(t, s);\n      })(f, b, e, v, n, t, s);\n      fbq('init', '593671331875494');\n      fbq('track', 'PageView');\n    };\n  })(\n    window,\n    document,\n    'script',\n    'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js',\n  );<\/script><script>if(typeof window !== 'undefined') {\n    window.TimesApps = window.TimesApps || {};\n    const { TimesApps } = window;\n    TimesApps.loadScriptsOnceAdsReady = () => {\n      var scripts = [\n      'https:\/\/www.googletagmanager.com\/gtag\/js?id=AW-877820074',\n      'https:\/\/www.googletagmanager.com\/gtag\/js?id=AW-658129294',\n      'https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/grxpushnotification_js\/minify-1,version-2.cms',\n      'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/sdk.js#version=v10.0&xfbml=true',\n      'https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/locateservice_js\/minify-1,version-14.cms'\n    ];\n      scripts.forEach(function(url) {\n        let script = document.createElement('script');\n        script.type=\"text\/javascript\";\n        if(!false && !false && !false && url.indexOf('colombia_v2')!== -1){\n          script.src = url;\n        } else if (!false && !false && !false && url.indexOf('sdkloader')!== -1) {\n          script.src = url;\n        } else if (!false && (url.indexOf('tvid.in\/sdk') !== -1 || url.indexOf('connect.facebook.net') !== -1 || url.indexOf('locateservice_js') !== -1 )) {\n          script.src = url;\n        } else if (url.indexOf('colombia_v2')== -1 && url.indexOf('sdkloader')== -1 && url.indexOf('tvid.in\/sdk')== -1 && url.indexOf('connect.facebook.net') == -1){\n          script.src = url;\n        }\n        script.async = true;\n        script.defer = true;\n        document.body.appendChild(script);\n      });\n    }\n  }\n  <\/script><br \/>\n<br \/>[ad_2]<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/sports\/football\/top-stories\/world-cup-2026-to-feature-12-groups-of-four-teams-fifa\/articleshow\/98639975.cms\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[ad_1] KIGALI: The expanded 2026 men&#8217;s World Cup in North America will start with 12 groups of four teams, a change from the original planned format of 16 groups of three, football&#8217;s world governing body FIFA announced on Tuesday.&#8220;The revised format mitigates the risk of collusion and ensures that all the teams play a minimum [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":297451,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[762,437,732,51959,51862,2097,13736,2085,2353,1812],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/haftavasool.com\/haftavasool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297450"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/haftavasool.com\/haftavasool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/haftavasool.com\/haftavasool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haftavasool.com\/haftavasool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haftavasool.com\/haftavasool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=297450"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/haftavasool.com\/haftavasool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297450\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haftavasool.com\/haftavasool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/297451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/haftavasool.com\/haftavasool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=297450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haftavasool.com\/haftavasool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=297450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haftavasool.com\/haftavasool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=297450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}