Newcomers and Second Appearances
The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be the largest of its kind as it will be hosted over three countries for the first time in history, featuring 48 teams from the six football federations, an increase of 16 countries from the regular format of 32 nations that has been in place since 1998.
The idea of the expansion has been suggested many times and was introduced by Michel Platini in 2013. Many argued that an expansion of the World Cup would be a bad idea, both from the players’ point of view and a financial point of view. The World Cup is an expensive luxury to host as it is, and expansion of it will require more resources for the hosting nations to be allocated toward the event.
On top of that, in the recent editions of the World Cup, the hosting nations did not gain much from hosting the cup, on a long-term basis financially, but rather reported losses from it during and after hosting the World Cup in their countries. As for the players, many complained that the World Cup is puts a lot of pressure on the players both emotionally and physically. Expanding it will require players to play more games during the World Cup, something that interferes with the players’ already busy schedules on their club levels.
Yet despite all these arguments, a decision was made in 2023 by the FIFA Council, and from 2026, 48 nations will have the opportunity to put their legs on the cup. One of the main reasons for the expansion was to introduce the game to new nations and countries and to expand the horizons of soccer to new places. From that aspect, FIFA accomplished their goal, because as of March 2026, there are four nations that will debut in this year’s edition, and they are Jordan, Uzbekistan, Cape Verde, and Curaçao.
In addition to the newcomers, Qatar, Haiti, and Panama are going to make their second appearance in the games. For Qatar, this year’s tournament qualification is the first one, technically speaking, since their only other appearance was in 2022, due to the fact that they were hosting the games.
As for Haiti and Panama (and Curaçao), because of the expansion of the World Cup, and the fact that the strongest nations in their federation have already secured their participation in the cup due to automatic qualification as hosts (Mexico, USA and, Canada), a door opened for them, and they grabbed that opportunity and secured their spot in the tournament. Curaçao became the smallest nation to qualify for the world championships both by size and population, breaking the records that were held by Iceland.
Out of all the newcomers and second appearing countries, the strongest ones are Jordan and Uzbekistan. The Jordanian football is going through a renaissance in the 2020’s, during which the national team, in addition to the World Cup qualification, got to the finals of the Asian Cup in 2023, losing to the hosts Qatar 3-1. On the other hand, Uzbekistan is considered one of the strongest and most consistent teams in Asia.
Since 2004, the team has gotten to at least the quarter finals in every championship, with the exception of 2019, and finished fourth in 2011. Moreover, Uzbekistan produces some of the best youth teams in all age groups in the world, regularly competing in the World Cup and Asian Championship, and even winning them, with the U-20 team winning the Asian Cup of 2023, and the U-23 winning it in 2018, and finishing second in 2022 and 2024.
It will be very hard to see any of the debutants reach significant achievements in the current World Cup, because almost all of them got very tough draws. Jordan are going to play the current champions Argentina, Austria, and Algeria. Uzbekistan were drawn to play with Portugal, Colombia, and a team from the playoffs. Cape Verde will play against Spain, Uruguay, and Saudi Arabia. Lastly, Curaçao are going to play in one of the strongest groups against Germany, Ecuador, and the Ivory Coast.
One cannot predict what will happen in the future, and this type of tournament is the opportunity for small or unknown countries to shine, and the most important thing for these nations, and especially the players, is to enjoy the moment and build upon it for future endeavors.
By: Ronen Bangiev
Featured Image: @GabFoligno / Simon M Bruty / Getty Images