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FIFA World Cup regulations make everything confusing, fourth place could qualify for next round
2026-06-23 13:15:07 / SPORT
FIFA has made changes to its regulations to accommodate the 48-team World Cup and the fact that not all third-place teams can advance to the tournament's top 32. But this has led to a surprise that could happen in the first year of the scheme.
There is a possibility that a team that finishes the group stage in fourth place will qualify instead of the team that finishes the group in third place. This is because FIFA has decided that in the event of equal points, it will not take into account the overall goal difference in the group, but the direct balance between the teams.
In Group D, this creates a huge paradox. In the final matches, Turkey plays the USA and Paraguay plays Australia. If Turkey and Australia win their respective matches, Turkey would be third in the group with 3 points and a better overall goal difference than Paraguay.
But due to the head-to-head matches, Paraguay would be the team that would take third place in the classification with a chance of advancing, to the detriment of Turkey, although the latter would in theory have a better chance with an overall goal difference that is taken into account in the ranking of third places.
According to experts, this will create a situation where in the future small teams will focus only on one particular match in the group, as it could ensure their passage to the next stage of the tournament.
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