Just over a year from the 2026 World Cup, FIFA has already made very strong decisions.
The World Cup in Qatar and the final between France and Argentina are already very far away … In 2026, the Albicéleste de Lionel Messi will put its title at stake in June and July on the side of the United States, Canada and Mexico which organize this World Cup all together.
This 2026 edition will be special because, for the first time, we will be entitled to a World Cup with 48 teams. “We have to draw the 21st century World Cup. Football is not limited to Europe and Latin America” had justified at the time the boss of FIFA Gianni Infantino.
If in total, 16 additional teams will be invited, three are officially excluded by FIFA. Unsurprisingly, and we already knew it, Russia will not be present for this World Cup because of the conflict in Ukraine which drags on. In a press release, the world football body has also announced that two other nations will not participate …
And it is Congo and Pakistan. For the Congolese Football Federation (Fecofoot), it is because of a “particularly serious situation of illegal third party interference” in its business. For the Pakistani football federation (PFF) it is after having failed to adopt a revised constitution which would guarantee “truly fair and democratic elections”.
For Pakistan, the suspension will only be lifted if the PFF congress approves the version of the statutes of the PFF submitted by FIFA and AFC (Asian Football Confederation). The Congo, which was last in group Ecaf, Pakistan group E Group, last in group G of the AFC Confederation qualifiers were not very lucky to participate in this World Cup.
This will therefore leave room for other countries, because, with this new formula, Europe will see its contingent go from 13 to 16 representatives. Africa will have 9 or even 10 tickets (in case of success in an intercontinental dam, Asia will go from 8 to 9 teams while North and Central America will have 6 to 8 representatives, one more than South America in the best of cases.