It’s a World Cup year! The biggest and most-watched spectacle in the sporting world returns for its quadrennial appearance. But while there’s usually a significant accretion of anticipation and excitement as the tournament approaches, this edition feels a bit lacking in that fervour.

There’s a fair number of factors causing the relative listlessness, ranging from geopolitics to the fan experience, but the biggest change from recent times has been the revision of the format.

Since 1998, when the Fifa World Cup was expanded to 32 teams, it has followed the same structure — the teams split in eight groups of four to start off with, before the top two from each group proceed to a knockout bracket starting with the Round of 16.

It was a format that worked well because of its symmetry — teams halved with each passing round — and because of its balance between the ease of following and last-round drama. Finish in the top to qualify, no best third placed teams or anything. It was a format that worked well because of its longevity and universality.

Excitement is missing in the build-up to the upcoming Fifa World Cup. The changed format, the US disconnect from football, absurdly steep pricing and uncertainty of an American welcome are all playing their part…

Excitement is missing in the build-up to the upcoming Fifa World Cup. The changed format, the US disconnect from football, absurdly steep pricing and uncertainty of an American welcome are all playing their part…

The qualification process has remained the same over the years, too. Thirteen teams from Europe, five from Africa, four from both Asia and South America and three from North/Central America. Now, if you’ve done your arithmetic and are thinking this doesn’t add up to 32, it’s because the hosts qualified automatically and two positions were filled up through intercontinental playoffs contested by the ‘nearly there’ teams, as in teams that barely missed out on qualification from the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football........

© Dawn (Magazines)