Asia gains in World Cup rework

FIFA allocates extra slots, plans new qualifying mini-tournament

ZURICH - FIFA on Thursday announced plans to hold a new six-team playoff round in the 2026 World Cup host country to complete an expanded 48-team lineup.

And in good news for China's qualification chances, the world governing body is also set to up Asia's team allocation for the tournament.

The playoff mini-tournament, to be played in the November before the World Cup, would decide the final two qualifying spots, casting doubt on the future of the Confederations Cup.

The idea is part of the FIFA Bureau's proposal to award the six continental confederations extra places at the World Cup, starting in the 2026 edition.

If agreed in May, the playoffs would give the 2026 host four more games to stage, adding to an 80-game tournament that has had 64 games since 1998.

UEFA is set to get the three extra guaranteed slots it wanted, bringing its total to 16. Africa increases to nine (up from five), Asia to eight (up from four or five), South America to six (up from four or five), North America and Central America and the Caribbean to six (up from three or four) and Oceania to one (from none or one) guaranteed slot.

Europe would be "fairly represented" by the quotas, said UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin. UEFA members fill 26 of the top 48 places in FIFA's ranking of 211 national teams.

Excluding Europe, the other confederations would send one team to the playoffs. The World Cup host continent would provide the sixth playoff team.

The FIFA Council, chaired by president Gianni Infantino, is expected to approve the proposal on May 9 in Bahrain. The council agreed in January to expand the World Cup from 32 teams from 2026. FIFA also said its bureau, comprising Infantino and the confederations presidents, wants automatic entry for host teams to come from a region's quota.

With the United States, Mexico, and Canada considering a co-hosting bid for 2026, the decision on which hosts will get direct entry is set to be made by the council and not individual confederations, FIFA said.

The proposal for centralized single-game playoffs to qualify for the 2026 edition would replace a scattered global format of two-leg playoffs for 2018.

In November, there will be two intercontinental playoffs - South America v Oceania, and CONCACAF v Asia, plus a European round of two-leg playoffs that allocates the last four of UEFA's quota of 13 qualifying berths.

FIFA hopes to generate extra buzz among fans in the 2026 host country, or countries, by bringing in six teams to play four matches over several days that will decide the final two of 48 slots.

The suggested format would see the four lower-ranked teams paired for single knockout matches. The winner would advance in the bracket to face the two higher-ranked teams.

Using the current FIFA rankings, a theoretical playoff lineup in November 2025 in the United States would be: China, Curacao, Ecuador, Morocco, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and Tahiti.

The Confederations Cup already faced an uncertain future after this year's edition in Russia.

With the 2022 World Cup in Qatar being played in November and December, a Club World Cup in November 2021 has become the preferred test-event option.

Associated Press

Platini pillories old pal Blatter

Michel Platini laid bare his anger at his spectacular downfall on Thursday, breaking his silence to accuse FIFA bosses of wanting to destroy him and claiming Sepp Blatter "always said I'd be his last scalp".

Former UEFA boss Platini and erstwhile ally Blatter - once the most powerful man in soccer as FIFA president - were both banned from soccer in December 2015 over a payment of around $2 million authorized by Blatter to his one-time heir apparent.

Platini's original suspension was cut from eight years to six and then to four by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Speaking publicly for the first time since he vowed in May 2016 to clear his name after the CAS ruling, the former France and Juventus star gave senior FIFA officials and Blatter both barrels.

"They were looking for something to destroy me with," Platini, 61, told French newspaper Le Monde, when asked if he felt that FIFA had trained its sights on him.

"Various in-house affairs at FIFA were exploited by the people who pulled the strings.

"I lived in the hope that they would tell the truth, but it never happened."

Asked about Blatter, 81, who had been head of FIFA since 1998, Platini added: "He's the biggest egoist I've ever seen in my life. He always said I'd be his last scalp.

"He thought he would grow old, finish, die and be buried in FIFA. It was his wish,"

Blatter was "a fascinating person" and "exceptional political animal", Platini added.

AFP