A bigger World Cup than ever before, with more teams, more matches and more host nations, is raising a familiar question: where is the limit?
The tournament, hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico, will stretch the global game to new extremes, testing how far football’s biggest event can expand before cracks begin to show.
From player workload concerns in an already congested calendar to growing talk of strike action among top stars, and from fan fatigue in an era of near-constant televised football to soaring ticket prices and rising costs for basic access such as parking, the pressure points are stacking up.
Expanded to 48 teams from 32 and stretching across nearly six weeks, the World Cup’s new format is also fueling concerns that FIFA’s flagship product could lose its edge through sheer size.
“I personally think it’s kind of taken a little bit of the excitement and quality away from the tournament, and it’s almost like it doesn’t start until the round of 32,” former U.S. forward Clint Dempsey told The Associated Press (AP).
