For starters the purpose of FIFA is to govern the sport of football worldwide. Their purpose is to serve all the nations not just a few. One of the goals for FIFA is to make football/soccer accessible to as many people as possible. There are 211 nations under FIFA, by increasing the number to 48 that means that around 25% of the football participating nations will be able to take part in the tournament. Let's address the cons first, the quality of play will be lower. That is true. But, I see that as an initial problem. In 1998 the number of teams participating in the summer spectacle increased from 24 to 32. In 1994 the United States was in the tournament due to the fact that they were the host. The increase of teams allowed for the United States to qualify for the trip to France in 1998. One could argue that the United States soccer team did not belong at all. They lost all three matches, easily the worst team among the 32 teams. I am not here to critique the quality of the United States. One doesn't have to be a fan to acknowledge the improvement and growth of the national team since then. In fact, if the United States team does not qualify for the 2018 world cup it will be seen as a huge failure. The point is that increasing the amount of teams will allow for other under developed footballing nations to have the opportunity to grow. How will other nations grow their national programs? Money. Each nation that makes it to the world cup is rewarded prize money. In 2014, the 16 nations that did not make the knockout stage were rewarded $8 million dollars. What FIFA is proposing is to award all participating members at least $5 million for making it to the tournament. That means that around 25% of the nations will be awarded. Nations like Jamaica, China, Panama, Honduras, and multiple nations from Africa and Asia would benefit from the money to improve their national soccer programs. Which is in fact the best part in all of this. When fans around the world sit to watch the world cup most of them know who to bet on. The Germanys, Spains, Brazils, Argentinas, Frances, and Italys of the world will be pretty safe bets on winning the whole thing. The format of 32 teams is great and I personally enjoy it. However, it does seem to be a bit redundant. Especially most of the third games in the group stage. Most of them are boring spectacles where the group is pretty much set and teams throw out their B team. I would enjoy more knockout rounds in the FIFA proposed 16 groups of 3 teams where two teams advance from each group. These single knockout matches raise the stake instantly compared to a third group game that feels forced.
These are still what ifs. A lot of what ifs. All FIFA did was vote on increasing the number of participating teams from 32 to 48. They now have the task of assigning the number of births each confederation will receive and the actual format of the tournament is still not set in place either. As I mentioned earlier this can benefit a lot of nations. However, FIFA still needs to be transparent in their dealings as well as enforce the national federations to be held accountable for the money they receive and how it will be used. There are other problems that FIFA still needs to take into consideration and work out befor the 2026 world cup. Yet, to all the dooms day and apocalyptic voices I say, hold on. Step back and lets see how FIFA moves on from here. Change is uncomfortable and scary at times, but it's FIFA. This can go in ANY direction. FIFA has a BILLION dollars in reserves, I see it as a benefit if that money is spent on more nations to improve their national footballing programs than having it sit in a Swiss bank account.