FIFA Restores Traditional 4-Team Format For 2026 World Cup

FIFA on Tuesday scraped its initial 3-team format of 16 groups for the 2026 World Cup and reversed to the traditional 4-team format of 12 groups for the 2026 World Cup.
FIFA in a statement on Tuesday noted that the decision to reverse to the traditional format was “based on a thorough review that considered sporting integrity, player welfare, team travel, commercial and sporting attractiveness, as well as team and fan experience.”
Consequently, FIFA noted that FIFA unanimously approved the proposed amendment to the World Cup format from 16 groups of three to 12 groups of four.
The top two teams in each group and eight best third-placed teams will qualify for the round of 32.
“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 added.
The amendment puts to end years-long clash between FIFA’s initial proposal and common sense. And it will be the first of several eagerly awaited decisions on how, exactly, the 2026 World Cup in North America will work.
The new format is similar to the one previously used at 24-team tournaments like the Women’s World Cup and men’s Euros — with the size doubled.
The 48 teams will be drawn into 12 groups of four. They’ll each play a three-game round robin. The top two in each group will advance.
The third-place teams will then be ranked based on points, goal differential and other tiebreakers if necessary, and the top eight of 12 will round out the knockout stage — which will begin with a round of 32 before proceeding just like the old format.
Since 1998, the 32-team men’s World Cups have featured 64 games over roughly 32 days.
FIFA’s initial expansion plan, for 16 groups of three, would have added 16 games but squeezed them into the same time window. The new-look tournament will instead last 39-40 days.
To fit it on an already-overflowing soccer calendar, FIFA will reportedly shorten the pre-World Cup period during which players must be released by clubs to their national teams from 23 days to 16 days — meaning the tournament’s “footprint” will hold firm at roughly two months, but training camps will be significantly shorter.
FIFA approved a men’s match calendar from 2025-2030 and said that “based on the new calendar, the FIFA World Cup 2026 final will be played on Sunday, 19 July 2026”.
It added that the “mandatory” for which clubs must release players for the tournament will start “on 25 May 2026, following the last official club match on 24 May 2026” and that “exemptions may apply to the final matches of confederation club competitions until 30 May 2026 subject to FIFA approval”.