In mid-December last year, FIFA officially announced the latest national team rankings. In this issue of the list, there is no increase or decrease in the points of the Chinese national team. The world ranking dropped by 1 to rank 80th, and the Asian ranking still ranks 11th.
Although the Asian ranking is relatively low, the Chinese team still hopes to participate in the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.The reason is that the number of teams participating in the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico has expanded to 48 participating teams.
The current allocation of places on each continent: 16 places in Europe, 9 places in Africa, 8 places in Asia, 6 places in North America (including 3 hosts), 6 places in South America, 1 place in Oceania and 2 play-off places.
Among them, there are 8 qualified places in Asia. According to the current team ranking,China’s national football team ranks 11th. As long as it surpasses Uzbekistan, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates, it may enter the World Cup in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
However, there has also been a lot of opposition to the expansion of the World Cup team. Even the Japanese media “friday digital” commented that,FIFA’s move is to hope that China can enter the World Cup finals.
In the World Cup in Qatar, Chinese companies invested nearly 1.4 billion US dollars, twice the amount of the previous World Cup in Russia, surpassing the 1.1 billion US dollars invested by American companies, ranking first in the world.
Among FIFA’s top partners, Dalian Wanda Group has signed a long-term large contract from 2016 to 2030. In addition, smartphone manufacturers vivo and Mengniu Dairy also sponsored the World Cup in Qatar.
Many people in many strong teams in Europe and the United States oppose the expansion of the army: “The increase of participating countries will reduce the quality of the game.” Many people also said: “The expansion of the army is a stupid strategy for the Chinese team to qualify.”
As Saburo Kawabuchi said,The Chinese team has missed consecutive matches since the 2002 World Cup, and the more they invest, the weaker the team becomes.
According to the military expansion policy in 2026, the quota for the World Cup in Asia will increase from the current 4.5 to 8.5, so Asia may become the region that benefits the most.
Although FIFA President Infantino was aware of the opposition from strong teams, he responded: “The level of Asian football is not low.” In the World Cup in Qatar, three AFC teams from Japan, South Korea, and Australia advanced to the top 16 .
