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John McDougall
The World Cup is two years away and will have a couple of firsts attached to it – but a new tournament to rival it has now been proposed by a former Liverpool star.
The 2026 tournament will feature 48 teams, a big increase from the 32 sides of previous ones, and will mean it will be the largest World Cup so far.
It will also be hosted across three countries, the first time this has ever been done, with Canada, Mexico and the United States.
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The only other time the tournament has taken place in more than one nation was in 2002, when Japan and South Korea jointly hosted it.
But even with these changes and its expansion, there has been a call to introduce a secondary World Cup which could rival it.
Former Liverpool striker Robbie Fowler has made the proposal for World Cup II, and would be very different from the main tournament in one major way.
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Football fans are accustomed to World Cup often featuring and being won by the globe's powerhouse nations in the sport such as Brazil, Argentina, Germany, France, Italy and England.
Occasionally there is a lower ranked side which progresses far into the competition, such as Morocco in 2022 and South Korea in 2002, with both nations reaching the semi-finals on each occasion.
This is something which is the exception, however, and not the norm – and so Fowler has suggested a secondary World Cup for 'minnows' being launched, with even the prospect of winning the place in the main tournament on offer for the victors.
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Speaking to the Daily Mirror, he said: "A tournament reserved for the countries for whom the dream of playing against England, Spain, Brazil, Argentina, Germany and France in a major tournament will never be ­realised would tick all of FIFA’s boxes when it comes to growing the game.
"The glittering prize for the winning nation could even be a place in the World Cup itself. As it stands, even those countries who might scrape through qualifying usually end up ­losing all three group games before arriving back home ­before the postcards. You only have to take a look at the list of member associations on FIFA’s website to instantly recognise some of the countries that would benefit. Afghanistan, Albania, American Samoa, Armenia, Aruba, Azerbaijan – and that’s just the ‘A’s!
"Indonesia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Malaysia, Uzbekistan and the ­Philippines all have ­massive populations. Let’s give these people something to cheer."
Fowler added: "I know from my own experience that the people of India are fanatical about football. It’s a country with a population of 1.4billion – and the place goes crazy every time the Indian cricket team take to the field.
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"Can you imagine the hysteria that cheering their team in a different kind of World Cup would generate? Just take a quick look at an atlas to see how many people are actually missing out on having a team to support at a World Cup. As mad as staging a secondary tournament might sound, I think it’s the best way to bring even more fans and players into the fold.
"I’m not expecting anyone to be playing for the Robbie Fowler Trophy anytime soon – but, hopefully, FIFA will remember whose idea it was!"
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Topics: Liverpool, Football
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