World Cup Expansion to 40 no, 48 teams

Zinedine Kilbane 110 wrote: After watching Spain v Portugal last night I totally get the calls to reduce the number of teams in the World Cup. It should be the best v the best. Like the champions league there is too many teams in there just to make up the numbers. It’s not good from an Ireland perspective but would make for a much better tournament. Also I would do a draw each round. I don’t see why we need to know Brazil’s potential path to the final. It would create more drama and uncertainty.

Zinedine Kilbane 110 wrote: After watching Spain v Portugal last night I totally get the calls to reduce the number of teams in the World Cup. It should be the best v the best. Like the champions league there is too many teams in there just to make up the numbers. It’s not good from an Ireland perspective but would make for a much better tournament. Also I would do a draw each round. I don’t see why we need to know Brazil’s potential path to the final. It would create more drama and uncertainty.

I don't think it should be expanded but it certainly shouldn't be reduced. You will have decent teams missing out every tournament. I don't like the idea of tournaments played in 3 or more countries. The champions league is sh*te because its not a champions league , its a Europe's richest league and it will never appeal to me the way the world cup does and that's saying something considering the state of international football. Teams like Panama , Iceland , South Korea , and Ourselves when we get there aren't just making up the numbers , they are carrying the hopes of millions of football fans as the underdogs

SuperDave84 wrote: Zinedine Kilbane 110 wrote: After watching Spain v Portugal last night I totally get the calls to reduce the number of teams in the World Cup. It should be the best v the best. Like the champions league there is too many teams in there just to make up the numbers. It’s not good from an Ireland perspective but would make for a much better tournament. Also I would do a draw each round. I don’t see why we need to know Brazil’s potential path to the final. It would create more drama and uncertainty.  Travelling fans are screwed over enough already. No need to make it worse. If you're a fan in, say, Kaliningrad, do you fancy having to get to Yekaterinburg inside 72 hours? Or Sochi? Without having any advance notice, it would be a disaster. There's simply no way to organise it without it being a clusterf**k for fans. I much prefer the present system. Plus, under your potential system, you run a real risk of teams playing each other on a vastly different number of days of rest. You could have a team who haven't played in 7 days playing a team playing their second match in 4 days. That's not acceptable. The current system minimises that.

Seems to be a lot of media attention now again about Qatar and allegations of bribery and sabotage in regards to the other bidders for 2022.

Nothing will be done but love to see it be moved

lassassinblanc wrote: Seems to be a lot of media attention now again about Qatar and allegations of bribery and sabotage in regards to the other bidders for 2022. Nothing will be done but love to see it be moved

lassassinblanc wrote: Seems to be a lot of media attention now again about Qatar and allegations of bribery and sabotage in regards to the other bidders for 2022. Nothing will be done but love to see it be moved

SuperDave84 wrote: If that's proven, it means that they obtained the tournament by deception. That is surefire grounds to strip them of it. The big issue would be replacement hosts - if UEFA and South America aren't allowed to host it because they've hosted the last two and CONCACAF aren't allowed because they're hosting the next one, then you have to ask which country from Asia or Africa is ready to stand in at very short notice.... it's a small list. It is really only Japan and South Korea, and Japan already have the 2020 Olympics.

Edited by Denis Irwin - 30 Jul 2018 at 2:56pm

lassassinblanc wrote: SuperDave84 wrote: Ask those three. If none of them want it, or aren't up to scratch (the Aussies needed to build or renovate a heap of stadiums), open it up completely, without geographic restriction. Then we get Germany or England. Germany or England could host a World Cup tomorrow if you asked them to.