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2026 UEFA WC Qualification

erogenouszone said:
They're qualifying route is considerably easier. ;) It's interesting that Italy only lost one game during their whole qualifying process and here we are. I'll refain from taking the piss out of my lovely wife's relo's, for a little while anyway.....
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And Sweden got one point in their group and got though via a Nations League spot (they won their group in League C) and a good run in the playoffs.
 
HonestSpursFan said:
And Sweden got one point in their group and got though via a Nations League spot (they won their group in League C) and a good run in the playoffs.
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again - should have just been 8 groups with the top 2 qualifying, then no need for playoffs - but hey, UEFA gotta spin it to justify the Who Cares Cup every two years.

I could poke holes in every qualification method this year, except for probably CONCACAF and CONMEBOL (method, not the amount of teams that qualify)
 
NicCarBel said:
again - should have just been 8 groups with the top 2 qualifying, then no need for playoffs - but hey, UEFA gotta spin it to justify the Who Cares Cup every two years.

I could poke holes in every qualification method this year, except for probably CONCACAF and CONMEBOL (method, not the amount of teams that qualify)
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CONMEBOL has easily the simplest method of qualification. Everyone plays each other twice in a league format, once at home and once away. However it only would work in CONMEBOL and perhaps the OFC because of the number of teams. South America has 12 countries plus French Guiana but French Guiana, Guyana and Suriname are in CONCACAF due to their Caribbean connections so only 10 teams compete in CONMEBOL. CONMEBOL World Cup qualifiers are a true “Nations League”. They also don’t have qualification for the Copa América, everyone just gets to play, and the meetings would be easy as everywhere but Brazil speaks Spanish (and Portuguese is basically mutually intelligible with Spanish anyway).
 
erogenouszone said:
Let's not forget about Bosnia, they'd be partying non stop until the world cup actually starts and when they get their they have zero expectations and everyone has zero expectations of them, could work in their favour.
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Some parts of the country were supporting Italy and will be very disappointed with this outcome.
 
HonestSpursFan said:
CONMEBOL has easily the simplest method of qualification. Everyone plays each other twice in a league format, once at home and once away. However it only would work in CONMEBOL and perhaps the OFC because of the number of teams. South America has 12 countries plus French Guiana but French Guiana, Guyana and Suriname are in CONCACAF due to their Caribbean connections so only 10 teams compete in CONMEBOL. CONMEBOL World Cup qualifiers are a true “Nations League”. They also don’t have qualification for the Copa América, everyone just gets to play, and the meetings would be easy as everywhere but Brazil speaks Spanish (and Portuguese is basically mutually intelligible with Spanish anyway).
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Yes CONMEBOL's process is straight forward

CONCACAF's current one works too - I presume that when the next World Cup rolls around, it will be the top 2 from each group qualifying, rather than just the group winners.

OFC's... I don't hate the full process - however they should be playing home and away in the group at the very least - the fact that NZ qualified having only played 5 games (and two of them were single leg playoffs at home) is a joke.

UEFA I've made my stance pretty clear on that.

CAF actually was another one that is spot on - 9 slots, 9 group winners.

AFC... could probably do a final round that's 4 groups of 5, rather than 3 groups of 6, and have the top 2 of each group directly qualify, with the 3rd places going to whatever playoff system they want to implement. The repechage group that saw Saudi Arabia qualify was just weird.


EDIT: On CONMEBOL though - I do know they are looking to change it up for the next tournament (given that it will see 7 of their 10 members compete for 3.5 spots. From what I've read, the suggestion is to run a "CONMEBOL Nations League" so that all 10 teams still play eachother home and away, but then the top 3 in the standing that aren't Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay then qualify for the World Cup
 
I like the UEFA minnows but something should be done where they fade out and there's a final qualifying round with groups where the top 2 mostly qualifying. It's just so tough to come second in UEFA and then have a play off.

It may be hard to balance out but perhaps a league system like the UCL?
 
JS96 said:
I like the UEFA minnows but something should be done where they fade out and there's a final qualifying round with groups where the top 2 mostly qualifying. It's just so tough to come second in UEFA and then have a play off.

It may be hard to balance out but perhaps a league system like the UCL?
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8 groups - top 2 qualify - most simple way.

Assuming Russia is back and in a non-hosting year for UEFA, that would mean 7 groups of 6, and 1 group of 7 (10 games for most groups, 12 for the group of 7), and if this world cup's qualifying had used that system, the pots would have been:

Spain, Netherlands, France, Croatia, Denmark, Portugal
Italy, Germany, England, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria
Ukraine, Sweden, Turkey, Wales, Hungary, Serbia
Russia, Poland, Romania, Greece, Slovakia, Czech Republic
Norway, Scotland, Slovenia, Ireland, Albania, North Macedonia
Georgia, Finland, Iceland, Northern Ireland, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina
Israel, Bulgaria, Luxembourg, Belarus, Kosovo, Armenia
Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Cyprus, Faroe Islands, Latvia
Lithuania, Moldova, Malta, Andorra, Gibraltar, Liechtenstein, San Marino
 
UEFA definitely got screwed by the composition of the additional 16 teams.

2022 - 13/32 = 41%
2026 - 16/48 = 33%
 
grazorblade said:
Regional tournaments are different

Qatar won ours twice in a row, means nothing
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Agree that regional and international tournaments are different especially given the fact that Qatar went all the way in back-to-back Asian Cups only to go winless at the World Cup as hosts and win the spoon, but there are still a few teams that are consistent across all major tournament types.
 
grazorblade said:


tldr italy fail to qualify because they didnt introduce a national curriculum
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Even with a national football curriculum in place it's no use if there aren't proper pathways between the farm system and senior national team setup or if the resources to be able to implement the curriculum are not there.
 
NicCarBel said:
8 groups - top 2 qualify - most simple way.

Assuming Russia is back and in a non-hosting year for UEFA, that would mean 7 groups of 6, and 1 group of 7 (10 games for most groups, 12 for the group of 7), and if this world cup's qualifying had used that system, the pots would have been:

Spain, Netherlands, France, Croatia, Denmark, Portugal
Italy, Germany, England, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria
Ukraine, Sweden, Turkey, Wales, Hungary, Serbia
Russia, Poland, Romania, Greece, Slovakia, Czech Republic
Norway, Scotland, Slovenia, Ireland, Albania, North Macedonia
Georgia, Finland, Iceland, Northern Ireland, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina
Israel, Bulgaria, Luxembourg, Belarus, Kosovo, Armenia
Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Cyprus, Faroe Islands, Latvia
Lithuania, Moldova, Malta, Andorra, Gibraltar, Liechtenstein, San Marino
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Yeah something like that but it just reiterates how tough UEFA can be. You could get Spain, Germany and Sweden but that's not to say Sweden are awesome.
 
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