The next World Cup in the United States, Mexico, and Canada 2026 will be unique and novel for being the one with the most countries and matches in history: 104 encounters among 48 participants. According to what Noticias Argentinas agency learned, it will feature 12 groups, whereas previously there were eight. Additionally, a new stage, the round of 16, will be added, and the top two from each group will advance, while the eight best third-placed teams will also qualify for the knockout phase. The 2026 World Cup will go down in history for, in addition to being the first organized in three countries, the wide range of novelties that will be introduced in its format. These will be governed by a change in the number of participating teams, which jumps from 32 to 48, and its consequent increase in spots, in which Asian and African teams were the beneficiaries: Asia went from having four direct spots to eight, and Africa from five to nine. Furthermore, CONMEBOL will stop having 4 to have six, and UEFA will no longer have 13 direct spots, but 16, while Oceania went from having no direct spots to having one. Finally, regarding the playoffs, all confederations maintained their single spots except for two: Africa, which went from having none to having one, and Europe, which has no access to the playoffs. Another series of changes will occur in the groups. As for the draw, organized in the traditional four pots, it was set that Spain and Argentina, 1 and 2 in the FIFA Ranking, cannot face each other until the final. The same applies to France and England, 3 and 4 in the official list of national teams. With the idea of keeping groups of four teams, discarding an option of making zones of three, the number of sections logically increased, from eight to 12, and its qualification method did too: in the new format, the top two from each group, plus the eight best third-placed teams, will advance to the round of 16. Once the group stage is completed, the next World Cup will add an extra round, the round of 16, so from now on, eight matches will have to be played to be champion, five of them with knockout status.
