This morning, we in the African continent work up to a sad news about the 2022 world cup in Qatar. It has been said that FIFA his given up its efforts on the proposed expansion of the tournament from the traditional 32 teams to a competition with 48 participating teams.Image Source
The bid to increase the teams to 48 was a totally welcomed development here in Africa, Not only because itll extend the competition and give us more thrills but also because we got an extra 4 slots, meaning wed have more representation in the tournament from our normal 5 to 9 teams.
This setback occurred due to the breakdown of economic and travel ties between the host nation Qatar and proposed co-hosts UAE, Bahrain, & Saudi Arabia. So FIFA will no longer submit the bid for expansion of the tournament.
Its not all bad news though, even if we dont get to see more African teams in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, theres almost an 100% chance that we will see them in the 2026 World Cup hosted by USA, Canada, & Mexico. Lets keep our fingers crossed for that while we enjoy the fast approaching 2022 World Cup.