Queiroz Attacks the 48-Team World Cup: The World Cup Has Become Ordinary and Trite

Ghana's national team coach, Carlos Queiroz, sharply criticized FIFA's decision to expand the World Cup to 48 teams, considering that this change has stripped the tournament of its historical value and turned it into an "ordinary and trivial" event.

The 73-year-old Portuguese coach said, "Value comes from rarity," noting that increasing the number of participating teams has diminished the exclusivity of qualifying for the world's most important tournament.

Queiroz, who has led 11 national teams and participated in six different World Cup editions, explained that the qualification of a large number of teams diminishes the importance of continental qualifiers, adding: "When such a large number of teams can qualify, it becomes legitimate to question whether the tournament still retains its exceptional value."

His statements came after Ghana's loss to Croatia with a score of 2-1, despite the Ghanaian team's success in reaching the knockout stages as one of the best third-placed teams.

Queiroz specifically criticized the current qualification system, citing South America, where six teams qualify directly out of ten, while the seventh place gets an additional chance through the intercontinental playoff. He said, "The real achievement in South America has become not qualifying. The qualifiers should be tough, serious, and competitive, but if almost everyone qualifies, they lose their meaning."

He also added: "The World Cup should remain a rare event with value and meaning, but money has started to speak louder than football."

Despite his sharp criticisms of the new system, Queiroz confirmed that the Ghana national team is ready to enter the decisive stage of the tournament, where they will face the Colombian team in the Round of 32.

He concluded his remarks by saying: "I told the players that the real World Cup starts now. The group stage was just a warm-up, but now it's time for accountability, and every match has become a battle with no room to hide."