The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be bigger than ever, literally, with a brand new World Cup format to be introduced from the next tournament.
This is a huge a win for the Socceroos, who will now have almost double the chance of making it into the competition — and a win for smaller nations who may not have otherwise qualified.
The tournament will consist of an extra 40 games; from 64 up to 104.
How many teams will qualify in the new FIFA World Cup format?
From 2026, the FIFA World Cup will be expanded to 48 teams – an additional 16 teams now able to qualify for the tournament.
This is an increase from the 32 teams we’ve seen every tournament since 1998, making 2026 the biggest tournament to date.
For the Asia region, specifically (which includes Australia and New Zealand), there will now be four additional spots up for grabs – bringing the total to 8.5 Asian teams in the competition, with the final spot decided in a last-chance play off against another region.
“Based on a thorough review that considered sporting integrity, player welfare, team travel, commercial and sporting attractiveness, as well as team and fan experience, the FIFA Council unanimously approved the proposed amendment to the FIFA World Cup 2026 competition format,” FIFA said in a statement released on Wednesday.
“The revised format mitigates the risk of collusion and ensures that all the teams play a minimum of three matches, while providing balanced rest time between competing teams.”
How does the new World Cup format change the qualification process?
The added teams and new format means that Australia’s qualification process will also change — which means it will (hopefully) be less gruelling than the 1,008 day qualification process it took for the Socceroos to get to Qatar.
Under the new system, eighteen teams from the Asian region will battle in three groups of six. The top two teams from each group will qualify automatically, while those who finish third and fourth in each group will progress to the next round in groups of three, where winners will secure a spot and those in second place will face off in the intercontinental play-offs for the last-chance spot Australia managed to score in 2022.
How does this change the World Cup itself?
The increased amount of teams also changes the World Cup format itself, with the round of 16 now becoming a round of 32.
This means that the top two teams from each group stage, plus the eight highest third-placed teams will progress to the round of 32.
In total, there will now be 104 matches across the tournament — a huge increase from the 64 matches we’ve seen in years past. This is a new change to the tournament announced this week, after it was initially planned to only be increased to 80 matches.
Teams that reach the final will now play a record eight matches each.
Matildas’ Women’s World Cup Fixtures
Here are Australia’s group stage matches for the World Cup, kicking off in
Sydney on July 20. The details for each match are as follows:
GAME 1 | Australia v Republic of Ireland, Accor Stadium Sydney, 8:00pm Thursday 20 July
GAME 2 | Australia v Nigeria, Suncorp Stadium Brisbane, 8pm Thursday 27 July
GAME 3 | Australia v Canada, AAMI Park Melbourne, 8pm Monday 31 July
The final release of tickets to the Matildas World Cup games, as well as other World Cup
games will go on sale on April 11 via the FIFA website.
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