01 The new maths
For most of its history the World Cup was a closed shop: 32 places from 1998, 24 before that, 16 before that. In 2026 there were 48.
Most of the new places went to Africa, Asia and CONCACAF. Oceania got a guaranteed place for the first time, and a six-team intercontinental play-off decided the last two spots.
02 A longer tournament
The group stage became twelve groups of four. The top two in each group and the eight best third-placed teams went into a new round of 32, so the champions had to play eight matches rather than seven.
The tournament ran from 11 June to 19 July across 16 cities in three countries, and ended with Spain beating Argentina 1–0 after extra time.
03 What comes next
2030 keeps the 48-team format across Morocco, Portugal and Spain, with three centenary matches in South America. 2034 goes to Saudi Arabia.
