A full format, pros, and cons.
June 30, 2026 by Charlie Eisenhood in Opinion
You can email me anytime at [email protected] with questions, comments, ideas — whatever you’ve got.
When FIFA announced that the World Cup would be expanded to 48 teams from 32, the decision was widely hated. “Money grab!” “Cheapens the event!” ”
While I’m no FIFA apologist (it’s definitely a money grab!), I think a lot of people have changed their minds about the format change as we’ve watched underdog teams like Cabo Verde wrestle powerhouses like Spain to a draw and proved that there is plenty of quality a bit further down the world rankings. I know I’ve enjoyed the games a lot, just as much as I did in the 32-team format. More knockout games also makes for more exciting action through the tournament.
It was good timing for the expansion concept to work as well as it has, because I was coming off of D-I College Nationals feeling increasingly unhappy with the 20-team format. So I’m here to sell you on a new expanded College Nationals format: 48 teams, here we go.
Just kidding.
But I am deadly serious about wanting to expand College Nationals to a 24-team format. I think it solves a huge number of problems while not creating a ton of new ones. Let me convince you why this makes sense.
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