Ghana head coach Carlos Queiroz has criticized FIFA’s expanded 48-team World Cup, arguing that the new format has diminished the prestige and competitiveness of football’s biggest tournament despite his team’s progression to the knockout stage under the revised system.
Speaking after Ghana’s 2-1 defeat to Croatia, the veteran Portuguese coach said increasing the number of participating teams risks turning the World Cup into an “ordinary” competition by reducing the significance of qualification.
“I do believe that what really has huge value is that which is rare,” Queiroz told reporters. “I’ve never seen common things that come with huge value. The number of teams that qualify for the World Cup can turn this competition into a vulgar, ordinary competition.”
The 73-year-old manager made the remarks even though Ghana benefited from the tournament’s expanded structure. Under the previous 32-team format, the Black Stars’ third-place finish in Group L would have resulted in elimination. However, the new system, which allows the eight best third-placed teams to join the top two teams from each group in the Round of 32, enabled Ghana to advance to the knockout stage.
Queiroz, who is coaching at his fifth FIFA World Cup, insisted that his team’s qualification had not changed his view of the competition. He argued that the expansion has reduced the intensity and importance of qualifying campaigns around the world.
“You see in Europe, who is out of Europe in the qualification?” he said. “Even the qualification matches in Europe and Africa start to lose significance and meaning because everybody is qualified.”
The 2026 World Cup expansion has, however, proved beneficial for African football. FIFA increased Africa’s automatic qualification slots from five to nine, with a tenth team earning a place through an inter-confederation playoff.
The additional places have contributed to a historic performance by African nations, with nine of the continent’s 10 representatives advancing to the Round of 32. Countries such as Cape Verde and the Democratic Republic of Congo also reached the knockout stage for the first time in their history.
Despite acknowledging the success of African teams, Queiroz questioned the motivation behind FIFA’s decision to expand the tournament, suggesting commercial interests had taken precedence over sporting values.
“Today, money talks,” he said. “In the game, money talks. This is called not football but Moneyball. When money starts to talk, the decisions inside the pitch start to change.”
The former Real Madrid coach and ex-Manchester United assistant also expressed concern about the physical demands of the expanded competition. The new format has increased the total number of matches from 64 to 104, raising concerns over player welfare following long domestic club seasons.
Ghana will now shift its attention to the Round of 32, where the Black Stars are scheduled to face Colombia in Kansas City on July 4 as they seek a place in the last 16 despite their coach’s reservations about the tournament’s expanded format.