Number of teams from each continent

[drew]

1 hour ago, Clyde1998 said:

This is one of the biggest drawbacks of the Nations League (which on the whole has been a very positive thing for most UEFA nations imo). You don't have opportunities to play against non-UEFA members very often.

Just looking at our matches against non-UEFA members since the year 2000:

Year	#	Opponents
2000	1	AUS (H)
2001	0	-
2002	4*	NGA (H); KOR (A); RSA (N); CAN (H)
2003	1	NZL (H)
2004	1	TRI (H)
2005	1	USA (H)
2006	1	JPN (A)
2007	1	RSA (H)
2008	1	ARG (H)
2009	1	JPN (A)
2010	0	-
2011	1	BRA (N)
2012	2	USA (A); AUS (H)
2013	1	USA (H)
2014	1	NGA (N)
2015	1	QAT (H)
2016	0	-
2017	1	CAN (H)
2018	3	CRC (H); PER (A); MEX (A)
2019	0	-
2020	0	-
2021	0	-
2022	0	-
2023	0	-
2024	0	-
2025	0	-
2026	4+	JPN (H); CIV (N); CUW (H); BOL (N)

*We also played against the Hong Kong League XI
+Not including the three matches at the World Cup.

Before the Nations League started, we typically played one non-UEFA member per year.

Now our only opportunities are in the prelude to major tournaments; in the rare case we'd get a smaller qualifying group without playing in the Nations League play-offs; or potentially in the June slots when players are supposed to be on their holidays.

I didn't even think of that but your right. The week of football also makes it harder. If a team books a friendly for a Saturday they've limited themselves to only being able to play the next one on a Tuesday which will only have x teams free.

I was more thinking about playing the same teams to frequently in a short period of time. Israel, Ukraine, Greece, Denmark as examples. Thinking of England they always seem to land up with Croatia.

[Toepoke]

On 7/4/2026 at 6:52 PM, Orraloon said:

67% of CONMEBOL teams through to the last 16.

44% of UEFA teams through.

Maybe CONMEBOL should get more places?

Meant to post on this thread the other day but the TAMB was offline.

75% of the last 8 were from UEFA (and also Morocco have a majority European squad).

It seems no matter how much FIFA expand the World Cup to bring more countries into the fold, the European teams will still dominate.

 

[biffer]

On 7/10/2026 at 11:40 AM, Toepoke said:

Meant to post on this thread the other day but the TAMB was offline.

75% of the last 8 were from UEFA (and also Morocco have a majority European squad).

It seems no matter how much FIFA expand the World Cup to bring more countries into the fold, the European teams will still dominate.

 

Absolutely. There's only once where the last eight had less than seven from Europe and South America. 

And fundamentally UEFA is still where the cash is. Without UEFA, FIFA is toast.

But if it's expanded to 64 teams you can bet that UEFA will get 2 or 3 extra places with the bulk going to Asia. 

[rOsCo2]

Like many others, I think a 32 team World Cup is the ideal size, even if Scotland would probably find qualifying a lot harder. But since FIFA is determined to keep expanding the tournament here's my hastily constructed 64 team solution.

Split the teams into four pot based on FIFA ranking. Draw four groups of 16, with four teams from each pot in every group. Each nation plays three matches, one against a team from each of the other pots. The top eight from each group reach a Round of 32 knockout stage.

In theory, there should still be plenty to play for right to the end, with teams chasing points and goal difference to maximise their position. I've spent approximately five minutes thinking about this, so there are undoubtedly flaws everywhere, and I don't even like the concept. But then again, UEFA has already gone down the league-phase route for its club competitions, and World Cup qualifying is heading in a similar direction anyway

[Northern Light]

2 hours ago, rOsCo2 said:

Like many others, I think a 32 team World Cup is the ideal size, even if Scotland would probably find qualifying a lot harder. But since FIFA is determined to keep expanding the tournament here's my hastily constructed 64 team solution.

Split the teams into four pot based on FIFA ranking. Draw four groups of 16, with four teams from each pot in every group. Each nation plays three matches, one against a team from each of the other pots. The top eight from each group reach a Round of 32 knockout stage.

In theory, there should still be plenty to play for right to the end, with teams chasing points and goal difference to maximise their position. I've spent approximately five minutes thinking about this, so there are undoubtedly flaws everywhere, and I don't even like the concept. But then again, UEFA has already gone down the league-phase route for its club competitions, and World Cup qualifying is heading in a similar direction anyway

Hmm, not sure about this one. One instant issue that springs to mind is that for sporting equity you would have to have 8 matches played at the same time (the last game) for each of the four groups. Not sure the TV companies will be rushing to pay FIFA the dollars they will want for this level of overlap

[biffer]

20 hours ago, rOsCo2 said:

Like many others, I think a 32 team World Cup is the ideal size, even if Scotland would probably find qualifying a lot harder. But since FIFA is determined to keep expanding the tournament here's my hastily constructed 64 team solution.

Split the teams into four pot based on FIFA ranking. Draw four groups of 16, with four teams from each pot in every group. Each nation plays three matches, one against a team from each of the other pots. The top eight from each group reach a Round of 32 knockout stage.

In theory, there should still be plenty to play for right to the end, with teams chasing points and goal difference to maximise their position. I've spent approximately five minutes thinking about this, so there are undoubtedly flaws everywhere, and I don't even like the concept. But then again, UEFA has already gone down the league-phase route for its club competitions, and World Cup qualifying is heading in a similar direction anyway

That's worse than the Champions League. Fuck no. 

[biffer]

Just another wee bit on this

Europe is still the richest market for TV rights - $1.4billion for the 2026 tournament. The TV revenue for the UK was more than the Middle East, Africa and China combined. North America was $1billion (but is likely to be less next time).

Europe provides most of the good teams - Since they went to a straight knockout after the group stage in 1986, European teams have made up 63% of teams in the quarter finals, 80% in the semifinals and 64% in the final.

But over that same time period (since 1986), while the number of teams in the World Cup has increased by 24, only 2 of those spots have gone to UEFA. Yes, UEFA was over represented in the 24 team competition, but the pendulum has swung too far the other way. If they go ahead with the 64 team tournament, at least 6 or 7 of the additional spots should go to Europe, otherwise we're being taken even further for a ride.

Broadcasting numbers from here. It's a reasonable assumption to divvy up global advertising and sponsorship proportionally along the same lines

https://financefootball.com/en/2026/05/ ... hts-worth/