Those football fans who yearn for the old days are hit with daily reminders that the sport is not what it used to be. Gone are the days of regimented European leagues and clubs that were often an extension of their communities and what they used to represent.

In England, especially, the obscene wealth of billionaires has created a magnet for the world’s best players to ply their trade there, but many believe it has also ripped the soul out of the domestic game, turning it into a global business rather than a source of local community pride.

A Global, Interconnected Digital Fanbase

Those on the flip side of this argument will say that the world has changed, and it has. It is easier now than ever to find communities and sports you enjoy. You can connect with fans from all over the world, and it is this rich tapestry and global community that has turned football into the most popular global sport by quite some distance.

We’ve seen other sports tap into this global community, and with great success. Football has been able to bypass much of the digital age, largely because of its unshakeable position in the sporting hierarchy.

However, some sports, like professional video gaming, and games like League of Legends, have leveraged the power of a global digital network to fuel a brand-new wave of markets, including underlying betting markets. Some believe they are on the cusp of breaking into the mainstream, and, based on the underlying health of digital subsectors such as betting, they have a strong case.

As these betting markets have proliferated over the last decade, League of Legends betting odds have become a growing niche within the world of online gambling. This shows the power of a niche when it takes hold and underscores how big the market has become for online gambling.

Betting companies will be looking to use the fact that there are more games in the World Cup to cash in on the undeniable global appeal, and they’ll tap into interconnected digital fanbases to do it.

Is It A Win For The Betting Companies?

Having 48 teams in the World Cup means more teams, more betting markets, more in-play action, and the goal is ultimately to generate more money. Often, profit over the cost of tournament integrity backfires in many sports, but as esports has again shown, there’s a successful middle ground here.

YouTube continues to be a great way to connect with fans, whether in esports, as you can see in the link below, or in more popular sports like football. The World Cup will be an endless 24/7 stream of content from global creators, so why not have more teams join the fun?

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THE LEGEND RETURNS! Falcons vs 3DMAX - HIGHLIGHTS - Thunderpick World Championship 2024 l CS2

A Guaranteed Success Story?

When the World Cup happens, though, that’s when even the EPL pales in comparison. The 2022 World Cup final, which cemented Lionel Messi as clearly the best player of his generation, was watched by close to 1.5 billion people.

When FIFA is dealing with an audience this size, one that is both fervent and unwavering, they can chop up the format in many different ways, and people will still watch in the hundreds of millions.

You can see why they have extended the competition to 48 teams this year, in a bid to continue cashing in on this reach. With more nations than ever competing in this year’s World Cup, is it a case of too many cooks spoiling the broth?

There are concerns that eight of the 12 teams finishing in 3rd place will progress to the knockouts, and that some teams will simply lack the quality to beat the teams they’ve been pitted against, such as Haiti, ranked 84th in the world, facing Brazil. The flip side is that it is a World Cup tournament; everyone should have the chance to play and experience it, not just the best teams at the top.

Final Say

Those that are the best will see out the lesser teams, and it is the magic of the tournament that provides people with so many memories. Until we see it in action, it’ll be difficult to say for sure whether there are too many teams in the World Cup. It’s interesting that the format has taken this shape.

Many World Cup predictions put the usual suspects at the top of the ladder, with defending European champions Spain the current favorites, followed by England and France. Given that England has not won the World Cup in 60 years, it would take a brave person to think they have the quality or the mentality to beat France or Spain when push comes to shove.

Once the tournament is over and people look back, we will get a better idea of whether it’s something that should be implemented moving forward or whether the format should revert to its previous state.