India, June 10 -- The 2026 edition of the FIFA World Cup, hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada, will be the first to feature 48 teams. For a quarter of a century, from 1998 to 2022, fans knew the tournament's shape by heart: eight groups of four, two qualifiers from each, straight into the Round of 16. That map has now been redrawn.

The new tournament opens with 12 groups of four. Every team still plays three group matches, so the opening fortnight will feel familiar. What changes is everything that follows. The group stage no longer halves the field. It trims 48 teams down to 32, and that single number is the key to understanding the entire format.

The 48 teams are split into 12 groups, labelled A through L, with 4 teams in e...