After news broke earlier that FIFA are going to discuss whether to extend the World Cup to 40 teams, it got me thinking what if it was expanded further and it was done as a straight knockout tournament.
For this to happen the top 47 FIFA ranked nations would get a bye into the Second Round, they would be:
Belguim |
Argentina |
Spain |
Germany |
Chile |
Brazil |
Portugal |
Colombia |
England |
Austria |
Uruguay |
Switzerland |
Ecuador |
Netherlands |
Italy |
Romania |
Wales |
Croatia |
Ivory Coast |
Hungary |
Turkey |
Bosnia |
Mexico |
Russia |
France |
Slovakia |
Czech Republic |
Algeria |
Ukraine |
Northern Ireland |
Republic Of Ireland |
USA |
Ghana |
Poland |
Sweden |
Iceland |
Costa Rica |
Albania |
Cape Verde Islands |
Tunisia |
Greece |
Denmark |
Finland |
Senegal |
Iran |
Paraguay |
Peru |
Then there would have to be 81 first round ties of which these winners would then go into the hat with the 47 top nations to give us a straight knockout format of 128 sides. Then the draw would have to take place, the nations would be ranked still in FIFA order but Congo the 48th ranked side would then become Number 1 in the draw. (I have used a random number generator for this)
Here is what the First Round Draw could look like:
1ST | ROUND | DRAW | ||
59 | Angola | vs | 136 | Chinese Taipei |
98 | Barbados | vs | 162 | Tonga |
91 | South Sudan | vs | 146 | Vanuatu |
69 | Mauritania | vs | 97 | St Lucia |
48 | Botswana | vs | 158 | Bahamas |
143 | Tahiti | vs | 77 | Bahrain |
67 | Chad | vs | 10 | Australia |
145 | Nepal | vs | 62 | Malawi |
14 | Slovenia | vs | 60 | Liberia |
128 | Mauritis | vs | 133 | Cambodia |
135 | Bangladesh | vs | 153 | Solomon Islands |
64 | Mozambique | vs | 19 | Nigeria |
32 | Cyprus | vs | 13 | Congo DR |
86 | Thailand | vs | 70 | Azerbaijan |
124 | Timor-Leste | vs | 8 | Jamaica |
132 | Indonesia | vs | 52 | El Salvador |
111 | Myanmar | vs | 2 | Trinidad & Tobago |
43 | Iraq | vs | 134 | New Caledonia |
82 | Kazakhstan | vs | 20 | Belarus |
35 | Antigua | vs | 36 | Venezuela |
39 | Qatar | vs | 29 | Gabon |
99 | Guinea-Bissau | vs | 157 | Anguilla |
109 | Sao Tome e Principe | vs | 101 | Tajikstan |
79 | Lithuania | vs | 90 | Hong Kong |
83 | Namibia | vs | 116 | Grenada |
17 | Panama | vs | 74 | St Kitts & Nevis |
31 | Benin | vs | 147 | Sri Lanka |
44 | Cuba | vs | 96 | St Vincent |
141 | Bhutan | vs | 140 | Monserrat |
100 | Vietnam | vs | 9 | Serbia |
40 | Jordan | vs | 4 | South Korea |
46 | Estonia | vs | 155 | Andorra |
150 | Turks & Caicos | vs | 108 | Moldova |
102 | Singapore | vs | 115 | Malta |
7 | Norway | vs | 88 | Palestine |
126 | Puerto Rico | vs | 22 | Israel |
53 | Niger | vs | 87 | Sudan |
6 | Japan | vs | 78 | Syria |
42 | Burkina Faso | vs | 45 | Nicaragua |
152 | British Virgin Islands | vs | 37 | China |
142 | Seychelles | vs | 71 | Sierra Leone |
131 | Laos | vs | 25 | South Africa |
156 | Papua New Guinea | vs | 151 | San Marino |
55 | Latvia | vs | 50 | Faroe Islands |
56 | Honduras | vs | 5 | Scotland |
12 | Cameroon | vs | 160 | Somalia |
73 | Ethopia | vs | 122 | Samoa |
125 | Comoros | vs | 24 | Bulgaria |
161 | Eritrea | vs | 113 | Maldives |
58 | North Korea | vs | 94 | Lebanon |
121 | American Samoa | vs | 107 | Dominican Republic |
103 | Afghanistan | vs | 92 | Kuwait |
15 | Mali | vs | 30 | Haiti |
33 | Saudi Arabia | vs | 41 | Canada |
72 | Turkmenistan | vs | 159 | Dijibouti |
139 | Fiji | vs | 118 | Liechtenstein |
66 | Central African Republic | vs | 138 | Brunei |
68 | Aruba | vs | 3 | Guinea |
57 | Oman | vs | 76 | Armenia |
149 | Cayman Islands | vs | 81 | Madagascar |
26 | Zambia | vs | 84 | Swaziland |
89 | Macedonia | vs | 34 | Libya |
1 | Congo | vs | 63 | Zimbabwe |
49 | Togo | vs | 112 | Bermuda |
105 | New Zealand | vs | 127 | Yemen |
23 | Equitorial Guinea | vs | 110 | Guam |
27 | Uzbekistan | vs | 93 | Philippines |
104 | Curacao | vs | 144 | Suriname |
123 | Malaysia | vs | 95 | Luxembourg |
129 | Dominica | vs | 18 | U.A.E |
85 | Tanzania | vs | 28 | Morocco |
114 | Guyana | vs | 154 | Mongolia |
65 | Burundi | vs | 54 | Rwanda |
38 | Montenegro | vs | 75 | Georgia |
61 | Krygyztan | vs | 47 | Guatemala |
16 | Uganda | vs | 137 | Pakistan |
21 | Bolivia | vs | 148 | Macau |
119 | India | vs | 120 | Cook Islands |
11 | Egypt | vs | 117 | Gambia |
51 | Kenya | vs | 80 | Belize |
106 | Lesotho | vs | 130 | US Virgin Islands |
81 winners would then progress to the 2nd Round. Scotland take a trip to Honduras while top ranked side Congo entertain Zimbabwe. Lowest ranked side Tonga go away to Barbados while hot topic Syria travel to Japan.
Logistically this could be a bit of a nightmare with some of the travel involved but you could eliminate World Cup Qualifiers and simplify International Football to a much streamlined tournament. Is your country in the hat, do you like your draw and confident of getting to the 2nd round.
If I can engineer a way to play these fixtures I might be able to do the whole tournament. So there you go FIFA here is a much better idea, I’ll be waiting for your people to drop me an e-mail
Great shout! It could always be done similar to the World Cup now as in all these games go on in a host country, scrap all the qualifiers and stick on an extra month for the earlier rounds!
You could have a World Cup more frequently as well, due to there being no qualifiers
Good News! – I have simulated the first round and will posting the results then the whole tournament in due course
The 1st Round has been played out in full…
http://realfootballman.com/2015/12/07/what-if-the-world-cup-was-played-like-the-f-a-cup-round-1/