2026 FIFA World Cup - Canada, Mexico, USA

[Winsor_Pilates]

Got tickets to 4 matches today including both knockout matches!

[MegaErtz]

Nice going. How much did you pay?

[Winsor_Pilates]

Originally Posted by MegaErtz

Nice going. How much did you pay?

Much less than I expected TBH.
The round of 16 tickets are $425; the other 3 matches were between $215-$270.

I got category 3 which is upper level and behind the goals, but that's what I had hoped for just for price value.

[GirlySports]

Croatia are the 27th team to qualify

Hosts (3) - Canada, US, Mexico
Asia (8) - Japan, Iran, South Korea, Uzbekistan, Jordan, Australia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia
Africa (9) - Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Algeria, Ghana, Cape Verde, South Africa, Senegal, Cote D'Ivoire
CONCACAF (3) -
CONMEBOL (6) - Argentina, Ecuador, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Colombia
Oceania (1) - New Zealand
UEFA (16) - England, France, Croatia

A 6 team inter-confederation playoff in March 2026 will determine the last 2 spots.
Asia 9th -
Africa 10th -
CONCACAF 4th and 5th -
CONMEBOL 7th - Bolivia
Oceania 2nd - New Caledonia

[GirlySports]

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...-b1723754.html

I was listening to the latest episode of the Libero podcast last night, with Jonathan Wilson, Miguel Delaney, and James Horncastle. They were talking about how awesome the last night of World Cup qualifying used to be, with all the UEFA games happening at the same time. Specifically, they went depth on the last match day to qualify for the '94 World Cup. England getting scored on by San Marino in less than a minute. France's collapse, Ireland vs N. Ireland.

[Locke]

Italy prepping the wine whine already...

Europe is awarded 16 qualification places by FIFA for the 48 team World Cup, but with the playoffs looming once again, Gattuso said that changes are needed to ensure fairness in the process.

"In my day, the best [group] runners-up went straight to the World Cup, now the rules have changed," Gattuso said. "To change the rules, you need to tell those who organize these tournaments.

https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/...up-bid-falters

[GirlySports]

They want playoffs and to make the nations league relevant.

Sweden have 1 point. But they can still qualify

[Sidney Crosby's Hat]

Italy does have a point. They could go through the entire qualification round with 1 loss plus equal or more points than every single team in UEFA qualification (including those that qualified). Also, they're ranked 9th in FIFA but despite that, there's still the possibility that they need to first beat Sweden then have to beat Scotland in Glasgow (or Czechia in Prague) to get in. They should at least have an easier path than that. And I know last time in the playoff they lost to North Macedonia, but still.

[SuperMatt18]

The UEFA format and playoffs are stupid in generals

In South America 6/10 teams get in, Brazil is going to lose 5 games and still get direct qualifoctaoon.

8 groups of 6 teams should be the UEFA qualification, and top 2 teams in each grouo get in.

The problem with only 1 team getting in from each group is it means they the draw is weighted way too important. Look how easy group C and Group H are comparatively

Having different group sizes and then forcing so many playoff spots is silly.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

The UEFA format and playoffs are stupid in generals

In South America 6/10 teams get in, Brazil is going to lose 5 games and still get direct qualifoctaoon.

8 groups of 6 teams should be the UEFA qualification, and top 2 teams in each grouo get in.

The problem with only 1 team getting in from each group is it means they the draw is weighted way too important. Look how easy group C and Group H are comparatively

Having different group sizes and then forcing so many playoff spots is silly.

Well they should try for qualification as opposed to it's off-brand low-rent cousin of 'qualifoctaoon.'

Where did they find that? Some ratty old vending stand in a market in Naples or something?