New Zealand coach Anthony Hudson has given his support of approval for FIFA’s decision to expand the World Cup to 48 teams from the 2026 edition.
President Gianni Infantino has taken his first major step since taking over from Sepp Blatter. Even though some of the top European nations have disagreed to this move since it would add more games, a number of the smaller nations have come out in support of this decision. The current World Cup is already packed with 32 games. Now, more teams will be able to take part in the finals.
Top European nations have said that it is merely an exercise from FIFA to increase the revenues. The World Cup is one of the prestigious tournament for the football governing body with revenues from each edition exceeding £ 500 million. In order to accommodate 48 teams, the World Cup will be shifted to three-team format for the group stages. There will be 16 groups, and it will provide a winner for the 32-team knockout stages.
This move will certainly benefit regions like Oceania, who do not have a proper spot for the World Cup finals. At the moment, the oceanic region only has a half spot with the winner from this region having to face the play-offs in order to determine the qualification to the World Cup.
“One thing I know is to get to a World Cup you’ve got to work for it. To get to a World Cup takes something special, that’s really important. I’ve got to be honest, I can only deal with what’s in our control and in front of us and I have absolutely no complaints about our pathway now.We have an incredible challenge to beat the fifth-best South American team over home and away. If we can do it would be an amazing achievement and feeling and what it would do for the country would be incredible,” said Hudson.