GENEVA (AP) — To make World Cup and Euro 2024 qualifying more interesting, UEFA said Wednesday that men’s teams will no longer play in six-team groups after Euro 2024.
UEFA said it expected a “less predictable and more dynamic” game when qualifying for the 2026 World Cup begins in March 2025 with 12 groups of four or five teams each.
In qualifying for the 2022 World Cup, England went unbeaten in a six-team group with four wins against Andorra and San Marino by a combined score of 24-0.
A broader revamp of European men’s national team soccer will see a new knockout round begin in the Nations League in 2025, which is shaping up to be a busy year as UEFA and FIFA schedule potentially rival events.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino is targeting the June 2025 launch of a 32-team Club World Cup that will rely heavily on European entries and could be played in North America. His detailed goals in Qatar last month it was met with pushback from European officials who said they were not consulted.
UEFA’s projected schedule for the European summer in 2025 also includes a doubleheader for the national teams in early June.
“FIFA is planning a Club World Cup with full knowledge of the international calendar,” UEFA competitions director Giorgio Marchetti told reporters in an online briefing. “This (new UEFA format) does not affect the calendar at all.”
Marchetti suggested that an expanded Club World Cup could replace the old FIFA Confederations Cup that until 2017 was played in late June in the host country of next year’s World Cup. The 2026 World Cup will be hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico.
However, the Confederations Cup had eight teams playing over two weeks, while a 32-team Club World Cup would likely last a month.
Europe will have 16 teams at the 2026 World Cup when the tournament expands to a 48-team format and the three additional berths helped spur UEFA’s review of the rankings.
The 12 qualifying group winners in 2025 will advance to North America and the remaining four entries will be decided in the playoffs in March 2026.
“This is not the end of the story,” Marchetti acknowledged of the revised European calendar. “We will also have to discuss with FIFA because the World Cup is their competition.”
Euro 2028 qualifying is likely to see 12 group winners and the top six runners-up advance directly. Six more entries to the 24-team tournament must be decided in the playoffs involving some teams based on their Nations League ranking.
The biennial format of the Nations League currently sees the four winners of the top-tier groups advance to a Final Four mini-tournament. Next year.
In 2025, the top two in each group will advance to a new round of the quarterfinals to be played in March over two legs. Also in March, midrange teams will play in new promotion-relegation playoffs between the top, second and third tiers.
Additional competitive games for some mid-range nations can make up for any lost revenue from having one fewer home game in World Cup and Euro qualifying.
There has been speculation that Brazil and Argentina could join the Nations League as part of UEFA’s close relations with the South American soccer body CONMEBOL. However, Marchetti said UEFA’s plan detailed on Wednesday covered only the 55 European soccer associations.
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