Former English footballer and commentator Paul Masefield has said the expanded 48-team FIFA World Cup 2026 format is unlikely to place a significant additional burden on players, pointing to active scheduling reforms by FIFA and continental confederations designed to manage the higher volume of qualification matches. Masefield made the remarks on 16 June ahead of the tournament, which will be co-hosted by the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

The Player Workload Debate

The expansion from 32 to 48 teams has intensified concerns about an already congested football calendar, with players increasingly caught between demanding club schedules and international duty. Critics argue the additional qualifying fixtures could push elite players — many of whom play 50-plus matches per season at club level — toward burnout and injury risk.

Masefield, however, believes governing bodies are ahead of the problem. 'Every team will want to get a chance at the FIFA World Cup. It will,' he said, acknowledging the heightened demand before adding that structural changes are being put in place to offset it.

Scheduling Reforms Already Underway

According to Masefield, the key response from FIFA and its member confederations is a fundamental redesign of qualification windows — compressing more fixtures into shorter time blocks rather than spreading them across a longer calendar. 'What I think they're doing is revamping scheduling, and they're changing the sort of schedules of what they're going to do for future qualifications so that they can play more games in a shorter space of time. That's one thing,' he explained.

Masefield is part of the expert commentary panel for ZEE5's coverage of the FIFA World Cup 2026, giving him a close vantage point on how broadcasters and federations are framing the tournament's expanded ambitions.

Region-by-Region Assessment

Masefield expressed confidence that most confederations are well-positioned to absorb the expanded qualification load without significant disruption. 'I don't think that there's an issue when it comes to Asia because of the amount of time that they do start the qualifications for the next World Cup. So, it's not going to affect them. I don't think it will affect Africa. I don't think it will affect North or South America,' he said.

This comes amid broader discussions within the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and Confederation of African Football (CAF) about restructuring their own qualifying rounds to align with the new 48-team allocation, which grants additional berths to both regions.

Europe the Key Pressure Point

The one region Masefield flagged as potentially problematic is Europe, where the density of domestic leagues, continental club competitions, and international windows already leaves little room. 'I think the only thing it can affect is Europe, and I think that what Europe are trying to do now and what the talk is, is that they're going to be having a pre-qualifying competition for the lesser nations, which takes less of a burden off the players playing to qualify for the World Cup,' he noted.

The proposed pre-qualifying stage would effectively create a tiered entry system within UEFA, allowing lower-ranked European nations to compete among themselves before the main qualification draw — reducing the number of high-intensity fixtures for top clubs' players.

FIFA's Broader Inclusion Strategy

Masefield framed the scheduling adjustments as part of FIFA's wider strategic vision to make the World Cup more globally inclusive without compromising player welfare. 'That's all down, and it's all part of FIFA's strategy of what they want to do and how they want to involve everybody moving forward,' he concluded.

The FIFA World Cup 2026 is set to be the first edition under the expanded 48-team format, with the tournament scheduled to kick off in the summer of 2026. How successfully governing bodies manage the qualification calendar in the months ahead will be a critical test of that strategy.