The 2026 World Cup is taking place across North America and will be the biggest in the competition’s history.
Kicking off on June 11, 48 teams are set to compete across the United States, Canada and Mexico as they aim to cement their names in the history books.
2026 will be the first World Cup that sees so many countries going head-to-head, with previous versions of the competition only allowing 32 teams to qualify.
The expansion has been met with mixed feelings, but Arsene Wenger has already explained that it is a necessary part of developing the game globally.
World Cup expansion to 48 teams necessary to develop football globally
Since 2019, the former Arsenal manager has been the Chief of Global Football Development at FIFA.
And in an interview from January 2026, he spoke about why the decision to make the 2026 World Cup 48 teams was taken.
Wenger said: “We had to open it [the World Cup] to the world. And I think it’s the minimum we could do, to open [it] to more African countries, more Asian countries, because we want football to be strong everywhere.”
The Frenchman also explained how the money made from the expanded World Cup will be reinvested.
He stated: “All the money goes to the federations to develop their infrastructures. And because I travel a lot today, you should see how much every federation has developed because of the funds they get from FIFA.
“I’m now in football development, and I realise how big football has become in the world when you speak about the number of tickets people want. You cannot imagine. I travel all over the world [and] everywhere, football has become the most important thing people talk about.”
The expansion means that, unlike in previous tournaments, countries that make it out of the group stage will have to compete in Round of 32 matches for the first time ever.
There is already talk in the football world about players having to play too many games for club and country across a calendar year.
But the increased qualification threshold is a positive for a number of sides who previously probably wouldn’t have been good enough to book a place at the World Cup.
In 2026, for example, Cape Verde, Curacao, Jordan, and Uzbekistan are all taking part for the first time in their histories.
The tournament will now officially get underway on June 11 when one of the three hosts, Mexico, take on South Africa in a Group A clash at 3pm EST.
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