💥 Italy at risk, Cape Verde in World Cup, format rethink? Gattuso 😡 | OneFootball

Gattuso won’t have it. After the victory in Moldova, the National Team coach vents about the qualification system. His Italy is practically certain to go to the playoffs, while teams with different rankings and values—see Cape Verde—have already secured their ticket to the World Cup, scheduled for next summer in Canada, Mexico, and the United States.

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What’s causing debate—and making Gattuso angry—is the new 48-team World Cup qualification format, which rewards other confederations while keeping the number of European teams practically unchanged. 

How many European teams at the World Cup?

If we consider the number of qualified teams, in percentage terms UEFA has fewer teams in the final phase.

The expansion of the final phase format to 48 teams has benefited other continents, not Europe. In 2022, there were 13 European teams out of 32, that is, 40% of the total; in 2026, there will be 16 out of 48, or 33%. 

Africa with 4 more teams, South America...

The biggest beneficiary of this ‘reform’ is Africa. CAF, the African confederation, will have 4 more teams in America, almost double compared to Qatar, when it had just five.

The number of Asian teams has also increased (9 teams versus 6), as well as Oceania, which now has a guaranteed spot, and Central/North America, which doubles its number from 3 to 6, even though three countries qualify automatically as hosts.

And South America? 

When it comes to South America, out of the 10 total teams competing for a spot, 6 qualify directly and the seventh can still get a ticket through the playoffs. No other continent brings such a high percentage of teams (from 60 to 70%) to the World Cup.

Is Gattuso right?

“In my day, the group runner-up went straight to the World Cup: in 1994 there were two African teams and now there are eight… I’ll say no more.”

Compared to the past, today European teams have one less opportunity. The two best runners-up from UEFA used to qualify directly, and Italy would be among them thanks to the 18 points earned.

The Azzurri’s campaign was affected by the heavy defeat in Norway, a misstep that could prove very costly and lead to Italy missing the World Cup final phase for the third time in a row.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇮🇹 here.

📸 STEFANO RELLANDINI - AFP or licensors