Coach Arsene Wenger shared his thoughts on the 48-team World Cup during a panel discussion ahead of next summer’s group tournament draw in the United States.
Manager Arsene Wenger has defended the decision to expand the World Cup to 48 teams. Next summer, the pinnacle of international soccer will arrive in the United States, Canada and Mexico, but with more teams than ever taking part in the competition, it won’t be without controversy.
Concerns have been raised about the disparity between the teams, with Match of the Day presenter Mark Chapman slamming the size of the competition and the seeding system. “FIFA has made the decision to expand this tournament and hold it in three countries, so it’s going to be a complicated draw,” he said.
An unimpressed Chapman added: “You know what? I’m going to jump in. It’s shit. It’s really shit. In 1982, Argentina, Brazil and Italy were on the same three teams and played against each other in some of the best games in World Cup history. And sometimes you just want the big game early.”
But ahead of Friday’s World Cup draw, Wenger suggested it was a natural progression for the tournament as it approaches its 100th anniversary. Teams are divided into 12 groups based on team size.
And Wenger, the former Arsenal manager and now FIFA’s head of world football development, made it clear that accommodating so many teams was the right thing to do. But the Frenchman admitted he had previously been nervous about such a big tournament.
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“It’s a natural evolution. We want to make football global around the world and see the evolution from 1930 to 2030. The next World Cup will be the 100th year.
“We started with 13 teams, then 16 teams, then 24 teams for the first time in ’82, and 32 teams for the first time in ’98. So the evolution is always more teams, more people participating. Now I believe 48 teams is the right number.”
“That’s less than 25 percent of FIFA’s 211 member countries. In other words, one in four teams has a chance to play, but 75 percent of teams still haven’t made it. If you include China and India, there are 3 billion people. Our message has been heard.”
“We have just finished the first National Under-17 World Cup with 48 teams. Previously, we were a bit scared that there would be a huge gap between the teams, but we have actually noticed that the gap in terms of quality between the countries has narrowed.”
“Why? Because the message that we put out and the job that we do is to educate people. Education correlates with success. All countries in the world are doing a lot of educational work right now. They produce new players and that’s why you see new teams in the World Cup. And that’s why I think it’s normal to have 48 teams in the World Cup.”
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