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The general idea of expanding the tournament had been suggested as early as 2013 by then-UEFA president Michel Platini,^[5][6] and also in 2016 by FIFA president Gianni Infantino.^[7] Opponents of the proposal argued that the number of games played was already at an unacceptable level,^[8] that the expansion would dilute the quality of the games,^[9][10] and that the decision was driven by political rather than sporting concerns, accusing Infantino of using the promise of bringing more countries to the World Cup to win his election Starting with this edition, the FIFA World Cup expanded to 48 teams, an increase of 16 from the previous 7 tournaments.^[12] The teams will be split into 12 groups of 4 teams, with the top 2 of each group and the 8 best third-placed teams progressing to a new round of 32, as approved by the FIFA Council on March 14, 2023.^[13] This is set to be the first expansion and format change since 1998. The total number of games played will increase from 64 to 104, and the number of games played by teams reaching the final four will increase from seven to eight. The tournament will last 39 days, an increase from 32 days of the 2014 and 2018 tournaments.^[14][15] Each team will still play three group matches.^[16][17] The final matchday at club level for players named in the final squads is May 24, 2026; clubs have to release their players by May 25, with exceptions granted to players participating in continental club competition finals up until May 30. The 56 days of the combined rest, release, and tournament periods remains identical to the 2010, 2014 and 2018 tournaments The expansion to 48 teams had already been approved on January 10, 2017, when it was decided that the tournament would include 16 groups of 3 teams, and 80 matches in total, with the top two teams of each group progressing to a round of 32.^[12][18] Under this later-superseded format, the maximum number of games per team would have remained at seven, but each team would have played one fewer group match than before. The tournament still would have been completed within 32 days.^[19] The later-superseded format was chosen over three other proposals, ranging from 40 to 48 teams, from 76 to 88 matches, and from one to four minimum matches per team.^[20][21][22] Critics of the later-superseded format argued that the use of three-team groups with two teams progressing significantly increased the risk of collusion between teams.^[23] This prompted FIFA to suggest that penalty shoot-outs may be used to prevent draws in the group stage,^[24] although even then some risk of collusion would remain, and a possibility would emerge of teams deliberately losing shootouts to eliminate a rival.^[23] To address these concerns, FIFA continued considering alternative formats^[25] – a process that ended with the 2023 announcement that the format would be 12 groups of 4 teams.