Football fans are used to the game being tinkered with and changed, but FIFA’s plan for the 2030 World Cup go well beyond even their own usual madness in the search for even more money from paying fans and corporate sponsors.
The proposed plans by FIFA for the competition in seven years suggests that it should be held in South America, Africa and Europe. Yes, their new fangled madness wants to hold the tournament across three continents, five time zones and it actually crosses two different seasons.
Whilst it is incredibly hard to imagine how the logistics of such a bizarre idea would be worked out, or the potential impact on players with much greater travel an obvious issue, if it goes ahead, it will be the first time a World Cup has been played in more than one country since 2002, where South Korea and Japan shared the games. Fans following the https://match.center/ for upcoming World Cups will probably find they will be looking in at weird times of the day given FIFA’s over all plan.
Fans will get some kind of idea of how it might play out in 2030 when the United States, Canada and Mexico share the 2026 edition, but even then, it still will not be on the same scale. Spain, Portugal and Morocco have already been named as co-hosts, but the opening three 2030 matches will be taking place in Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay before it then spans off further.
It is not the only change to the format either, the 2026 addition sees the competition boosted to 48 teams , and with the four team qualifying group being retained, it will see the total number of matches rise from 80 to 104, and there will be a new last 32 stage.
Fans will certainly be questioning the ‘integrity’ of the games as there are big questions to be answered about the conditions that matches will be taking place in. Switching between two hemispheres, some sides could find themselves playing in the middle of winter one week, and then at the height of summer the next.
Continuing on the climate theme, there is also a massive elephant in the room for FIFA given their plans. With all the focus on climate change, proof of warming global temperatures and the unusual weather patterns and disasters that some countries have experienced, there will be some blow back on that front, and obviously fans will be less than pleased with the additional extra expense if their country ends up playing in multiple locations – it will be an issue that hits the broadcasters as well, as five different time zones could lead to some very strange kick off times depending on where a fan lives.
But again for FIFA, it is all about the money and they could not have seemingly cared less when the environmental criticisms of the Qatar 2022 experiment were aired. 2026 is expected to net them a potential profit rise of £521 million, and that is their own estimate, despite the fact it will be the most emitting tournament ever staged.
How they answer those questions remain to be seen, but whilst FIFA continue to deny they are focused on the financial gain of such a bizarre plan, it is absolutely undeniable that they are certainly not thinking of the fans.
