UEFA seeks 16 European sides in 2026 World Cup

Baku. 22 February. REPORT.AZ/ UEFA will discuss number of countries to represent Europe in 2026 World Cup in its meeting next month. Report informs, president of association Aleksander Čeferin told in his interview to Habertürk.

Slovenian functionary told that they will demand allocation of at least 16 places for European teams and inclusion of one European team in each of 16 groups: “This is our minimal demand. UEFA, along with other confederations, agreed to support new format of world cup. Moderate duration of the tournament and unchanged number of games are acceptable for us”.

Čeferin told that they are not agree to arrange separate games for weaker teams in world cup qualification stage. According to him, every team should have right to participate in all tournaments: “We can take examples from previous tournaments. Many small countries left very positive impression with their games in qualification and final stages. It shows that everything is possible in football, if chance is given. That’s why equal conditions will be created for everyone. We will not allow discrimination”.

Notably, 32 teams attend world cup at present.