48-team World Cup doable if ‘format is right’, says SC’s al-Khater

World Cup 2022 organisers in Qatar are open to a 48-team event in principle if desired by the ruling football governing body FIFA.“It’s doable, we just need to figure out how it is done. What’s the format? We don’t even know what that is,” Nasser al-Khater, assistant secretary-general of the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC), told international media representatives in Moscow yesterday.“I think it’s all in the format. If the format is done right, it could actually be an edition that is exciting.”FIFA has already raised the number of teams for the 2026 edition from 32 to 48, and is now — based on a proposal from South America which has been rejected for the time being by the FIFA council — looking into whether 48 teams could already play in Qatar. “Our plans have been toward a 32-team World Cup. Everything we have done is toward a 32-team World Cup,” al-Khater said.“If we see that it’s in the benefit of football, the World Cup itself, and we feel like it’s going to add, we would be all for it. If we feel that it’s not in favour of us or of football, we won’t go for it.”The 2022 World Cup is planned across eight venues, which would effectively rule out the 2026 World Cup format of 16 groups with three teams.Another format could see 16 teams seeded and 32 teams playing in 16 play-off games for 16 other berths — and the tournament then continuing in the present format with 32 teams in eight groups.Al-Khater said this “sudden death element... might add an element of surprise” but this would also lead to a longer tournament. With the tournament already moved to November-December because of the climate, additional weeks have already been rejected by the European Leagues.But al-Khater said the format must be known before the qualifiers start, likely by early 2019.Meanwhile, Russia has been praised by SC secretary-general Hassan al-Thawadi for its efforts in hosting the current World Cup.“It is an amazing tournament with fantastic organisation,” al-Thawadi said.