Conmebol

CONMEBOL teams want to reduce qualifying rounds ahead of the 2026 World Cup

By Hector Garcia

According to 'Globoesporte', the captains of the ten national teams that make up CONMEBOL have held talks in recent days to discuss the reduction of the South American qualifying rounds for the 2026 World Cup, to be held in the United States, Mexico, and Canada.

According to 'Globoesporte', the captains of the ten national teams that make up CONMEBOL have held talks in recent days to discuss the reduction of the South American qualifying rounds for the 2026 World Cup, to be held in the United States, Mexico, and Canada.

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CONMEBOL qualifiers for the World Cup could change for the next edition. With a view to the 2026 World Cup, the qualifying phase has serious possibilities of changing, according to 'Globoesporte'.

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The above-mentioned media explained that the ten captains of the teams that make up CONMEBOL, Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador, Uruguay, Peru, Colombia, Chile, Paraguay, Bolivia, and Venezuela, have met recently to discuss this issue.

What have some captains said?

The idea would be to reduce the number of matchdays, which currently total 18. 

"It's not just the 18 matches, but also the trips we make, which add up to many thousands of extra kilometers compared to the Europeans who play against each other. That is very big wear and tear, beyond the weather, which is totally different from what we had in Europe at that time”. 

“If people could somehow find a balance with our travels, it would facilitate our performance. It's certain wear and, in my opinion, unnecessary", said Thiago Silva, from Brazil, about it.

Bolivia captain Marcelo Martins also took the opportunity to make the same request as his Brazilian teammate: 

"There has already been a meeting with FIFA and it looks like there will be a change in the format of the qualifiers. FIFA is the one who decides and I think it's good because it will be interesting, as the players won't lose too much time traveling with the national teams. They want to reduce the travel time of each player and for the player to stay longer with the national team to play more games in a row and not lose so much time between trips".

What would the new format look like?

Until the 1994 World Cup in the United States, the format in Conmebol was two groups of five countries each and all matches were played during one month. That would be, more or less, the plan to change the next qualifiers, pending the determination of the time in which the eight rounds would be played. 

With that introduction, the top three countries would qualify and the fourth-placed countries would play a preliminary playoff to determine which team would meet another continent's team for a place in the next World Cup.

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