The World Cup brings together national teams that qualify through regional competitions. A larger field could give more countries a route to the global stage, extending the tournament’s reach. But access comes with costs: organisers would need a format that preserves meaningful matches and keeps the event manageable for players and fans.
The College Football Playoff operates in a different environment. Its teams emerge from a domestic college season, and expanding the field to 24 would reshape how selection and postseason progression work. The column’s comparison is not a claim that the competitions are interchangeable; it uses their proposed sizes to test how expansion might land in two distinct sporting cultures.
The case for 64 World Cup teams rests on the value of broader participation. More national sides would get the chance to compete on football’s biggest stage. Yet inclusion alone cannot guarantee quality or drama. The format must avoid turning additional fixtures into hurdles that dilute the tournament’s defining matches.
At 24 teams, the college playoff would face its own balance: a wider invitation list could reward more programmes, while making the path to a championship longer and selection debates more consequential. The number matters, but so do qualification rules, scheduling and the stakes of each round.
The next expansion debate will turn on more than headline totals. As football considers how far the World Cup could grow-and college football weighs the limits of its playoff-the key test will be whether a bigger field creates meaningful new opportunities without blurring what makes each competition special.