The 2026 World Cup was meant to be bloated, diluted, and dull. Sixteen extra teams, more mismatches, less drama — that was the forecast from virtually every serious voice in the game when FIFA announced the expansion. Instead, the tournament is playing out like a reminder of why football captivates the planet in the first place.
Call it the own goal that wasn't.
What the skeptics got wrong
The purist argument made sense on paper. More teams should mean more cannon fodder, more dead rubbers, and a watered-down knockout stage populated by sides that had no business being there. The worry wasn't irrational — it was based on what expansion had done to other tournaments, where group stages turned into obligation rather than occasion.
But football has a way of embarrassing predictions. The 48-team format has generated the kind of chaos and competition that makes the sport worth watching. Underdog results. Tight group finishes. Nations with genuine emotional investment creating moments that the old format, with its cozy 32-team structure, might never have produced.
There's a broader point here too. More teams means more countries with skin in the game — more fanbases tuned in, more local narratives running parallel to the big ones. That's not just good television. It shifts the odds landscape across the board, with group-stage betting markets far more volatile when the field is deeper and form is harder to read.
The format isn't the problem it was supposed to be
Was every match a classic? No. That was never the standard. The question was whether the expansion would actively harm the tournament's quality and atmosphere. So far, the answer is clearly no.
Critics were right that 48 teams is a commercial decision, not a sporting one. FIFA's revenue interests drove it, not some noble democratic vision of global football. That's true. And it's also true that the product on the pitch has been better than anyone expected.
Sometimes a decision made for the wrong reasons produces the right result. This looks like one of those times.
