Russia 2018 as a 24-team tournament

[Diable Rouge]

UEFA: 14 in both circumstances
CONCACAF: 2 (Mexico, Costa Rica)
CONMEBOL: 4 (Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Colombia)
AFC: 2 (Iran, Japan)
CAF: 2 (Nigeria, Tunisia/Senegal - level on points and GD)

[Duncan Gardner]

48 teams- faded Europowers Italy and NI would be there

[Satchmo Distel]

We have a 48 team thread. Will bump it.

24 teams - I would miss Peru, despite them not being good enough, and Australia have been competitive, as were Morocco in patches. But generally, yes, the 8 additional places have not affected the real competition for last 16 places. In fact they have distorted the GD factor, turning Groups A and G into target practice for the Top 2.