The 2026 FIFA World Cup is set to be the biggest and most unique tournament in history

The 2026 FIFA World Cup, which begins in the United States, Mexico and Canada on June 11, is set to be unique and historic in many ways.

For the first time, 48 teams will participate in the tournament instead of 32, making the competition much larger than in previous World Cup editions.

Under the new format, the 48 teams have been divided into 12 groups. The top two teams from each group will advance directly to the next round, while the eight best third-placed teams will also qualify for the round of 32. This will be followed by the traditional knockout stage, quarter-finals, semi-finals and final.

Arsene Wenger, head of global football development at FIFA and former Arsenal manager, has said that the increase in the number of teams is a natural process of football's development. He said that the expansion has given countries such as Jordan, Uzbekistan, Curacao and Cape Verde the opportunity to play on the world stage for the first time.

Arsene Wenger said that the goal of all of us is to spread football around the world. If you look at the journey from 1930 to now, it started with 13 teams, then 16, 24 and 32 teams. Now 48 teams is a perfect number.

However, critics believe that this expansion could increase the number of one-sided matches between weak and strong teams, which could affect the interest of the competitions. In addition, the teams that reach the final will only have to play 8 matches, which could increase the risk of player fatigue and injury.

FIFA argues that this expansion will bring economic benefits along with the global development of football.