Apparently the format of the Conmebol World Cup qualifiers, as we know it, would change in the next edition. Taking advantage of the fact that for the 2026 World Cup there will be 48 places available, 6 of them for Conmebol, the captains of each South American team have been in contact to develop a proposal that manages to convince Conmebol and, at the same time, FIFA managers, according to information was revealed by the Brazilian newspaper Globe Sports, where they assure that the first contact between players occurred before the Copa América 2021.
Who would be leading this move would be the Brazilian captain Thiago Silva. For the defender of Chelsea from England, the big problem of the qualifiers is the great trips between country and country. “It’s not just 18 games, but the trips we make. That is a lot of mileage compared to the Europeans who play very close together and with little transfer, ”says the Chelsea defender in a few words quoted by Globe Sports. “That’s a lot of wear and tear, plus the weather, totally different from Europe,” he remarks.
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Given this situation, the champion of the Copa América in 2019 has a solution to find a balance in these trips, which “would undoubtedly facilitate our stay and our performances.” The possibility that the ten captains of Conmebol want to present to the regional and world soccer authorities is the creation of two regional groups between countries that are close, just as the Copa América was proposed with headquarters in Argentina and Colombia. According to the experienced centre-back, most players consider such movements “unnecessary”.
The Brazilian media indicates that the captains have a group on WhatsApp and have even met virtually to discuss the proposal that would change the Qualifiers to the format in which they were played between 1970 and 1994. That changed towards France 1998, when for the first time played a round robin format.
“We had a meeting with FIFA and it looks like there will be a change in the format of the Qualifiers. Who am I to change this? The order comes from above.”revealed Marcelo Moreno Martins, captain of Bolivia. “FIFA is the one who decides, but I think it’s good, valid, it’s going to be interesting, because the players aren’t going to spend a lot of time traveling and returning to the national teams,” added the striker.
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The idea is that each group has five teams and play 8 games in total throughout the World Cup cycle. The three best in each zone would take the direct quota and a match between the quarterfinals would define the one sent to play the playoff organized by FIFA. This would allow more possibilities for teams that have been far from the World Championship, such as Venezuela, the only team on the continent that has never attended the orbital event.
That would be, more or less, the plan to change the next rounds, in the absence of determining the time in which the eight days would be played. Well, one of the most exciting tournaments in the world of football would change. This is how the Portuguese José Mourinho had defined it at some point, “qualifying matches in Europe bore me; while those from South America motivate me. I really like soccer, not just playing for the sake of playing. And in the South American qualifiers, football is serious,” he noted.
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