Curaçao national football team makes its World Cup debut in the largest World Cup ever, with 48 participating countries and 104 matches. How much is too much? The 2026 World Cup in the US, Canada, and Mexico is the largest World Cup ever, with 48 participating countries and 104 matches. But is bigger better? And who will win now in a ‘supersized’ World Cup? With an expanded format of 48 teams – instead of 32 – and a tournament that will last almost six weeks – ten days longer than normal – this _supersized_ World Cup will put the endurance of both players, supporters, and media to the ultimate test. TV viewers will have to follow at least twelve different qualifying groups with four teams each in the first phase of the World Cup. Four countries will make their debut, including the small Curaçao, the smallest country in terms of population to have ever qualified. Jordan, Cape Verde, and Uzbekistan are the other newcomers. While Haiti and the DR Congo have also qualified for the first time since 1974 for the global football festival in the country of President Donald Trump. This will undoubtedly lead to a number of heartwarming stories. Like those of Haitian goalkeeper Josué Duverger (FC Cosmo Koblenz in the fifth division in Germany) and defender Tommy Smith of New Zealand (Braintree Town in the fifth class in England); two players who will go from the anonymity of regional football to become stars like Brazilian Vinicius Junior and Kevin De Bruyne in the eyes of the world. But whether that will convince the neutral football fan to watch these kind of matches between David and Goliath on TV, remains to be seen. The new World Cup format with 48 is not only complex and unmanageable. From a sporting point of view, the quality of the matches is threatened to decline because more weaker teams participate, which can lead to greater level differences and less exciting matches. Critics fear that the flagship of the world football federation Fifa has reached its breaking point. “The greatest danger is the dilution of the spectacle”, said one of the critics.