Men's Football FIFA World Cup 2026

[avlar 586]

31 minutes ago, Siddhartha Talukdar said:

In 1954, quarter finals were played where group winners played each other and runners up played each other

Yes, it was the strangest tournament )))
They did not have a fixed draw for 1/4 and 1/2 - so they draw lots for each stage,

[Monzanator 5,113]

1 minute ago, avlar said:

One little remark on Sweden - they had UEFA president at that moment, as far as I remember )))
(their last WC was in 1978 by that moment).

Bu there were the times when rankings were much less important.
For example before Italy 1990 there were a lot of talks about  in pot 1.

 supposed that the system was designed to move  for sure to the islands.

 

 and  failing to qualify elevated  to Pot 1 alas   has been on the rise with their 'new" generation. Belgium had Preud'Homme, De Wolf and Czerniatynski (old and bench player by then) in 1994. All the 1986 SF and 1990 left-overs (Gerets, Vercauteren etc.) were gone by 1994 already otherwise. Czerniatynski started in 1982 vs Poland when he was considered the "next best thing" but Enzo Scifo kinda had a better career overall IMO (and he was the "next best thing in 1994).

[avlar 586]

Littite quiz  before the WC Draw.
From what WC draw are these 3 groups at the screenshot?

 

[avlar 586]

5 minutes ago, Monzanator said:

 

 and  failing to qualify elevated  to Pot 1 alas   has been on the rise with their 'new" generation. Belgium had Preud'Homme, De Wolf and Czerniatynski (old and bench player by then) in 1994. All the 1986 SF and 1990 left-overs (Gerets, Vercauteren etc.) were gone by 1994 already otherwise. Czerniatynski started in 1982 vs Poland when he was considered the "next best thing" but Enzo Scifo kinda had a better career overall IMO (and he was the "next best thing in 1994).

Yes I remeber 1994 too.

Czerniatynski played for Antwerpen in the 90-s if I am correct - they have a good season in CWC.
But Scifo was much better IMO too. 

In 1994 I was very impressed by . That was a cool team with Kenneth Andersen, Dahlin, Brolin, Larsson, Ravelli. From that time I always support  )

[Monzanator 5,113]

7 minutes ago, avlar said:

Littite quiz  before the WC Draw.
From what WC draw are these 3 groups at the screenshot?

 

Has to be 1974 since  played  and  in group stage (and  missed 1970 WCup) 

[Monzanator 5,113]

5 minutes ago, avlar said:

Yes I remeber 1994 too.

Czerniatynski played for Antwerpen in the 90-s if I am correct - they have a good season in CWC.
But Scifo was much better IMO too. 

In 1994 I was very impressed by . That was a cool team with Kenneth Andersen, Dahlin, Brolin, Larsson, Ravelli. From that time I always support  )

Belgium in the 1980s was one thing, their 1994 squad was really totally new to 1982-1990 (bit like West Germany 1978 after 1966-1974 was the "core squad"). Sweden in 1990 bombed out in the infamous Brazil Scotland Costa Rica group but they were clearly the better team in 1994 yet Belgium profited from the old points seeding more than anything. Norway winning the quals group threw a total wrench too (ahead of Pays Bas and England). This basically relegated Pays Bas to Pot 3 by default).

[phelps 8,695]

18 minutes ago, avlar said:

Littite quiz  before the WC Draw.
From what WC draw are these 3 groups at the screenshot?

 

it's written in Spanish, but Italy only played Belgium in 1954

the number of teams is also strange, 12

the only thing that comes to my mind is Spain 1982, the draw for the second round (which was 4 groups of 3 teams and all those 4 teams were involved): 1-4=pot 1; 5-8= pot 2; 9-12= pot 3, 1 team from each pot in each group

[LDOG 2,477]

16 minutes ago, phelps said:

it's written in Spanish, but Italy only played Belgium in 1954

the number of teams is also strange, 12

the only thing that comes to my mind is Spain 1982, the draw for the second round (which was 4 groups of 3 teams and all those 4 teams were involved): 1-4=pot 1; 5-8= pot 2; 9-12= pot 3, 1 team from each pot in each group

It's the draw for the group stage of 1982. They made a mistake with Belgium and had to move them to group 3 later.

[Monzanator 5,113]

38 minutes ago, avlar said:

Yes I remeber 1994 too.

Czerniatynski played for Antwerpen in the 90-s if I am correct - they have a good season in CWC.
But Scifo was much better IMO too. 

In 1994 I was very impressed by . That was a cool team with Kenneth Andersen, Dahlin, Brolin, Larsson, Ravelli. From that time I always support  )

A lot of Polish footballers were "allowed" to emigrate to Belgium in 1980s (second only to France since Polish communist party chairman Gierek actually worked in French mines in 1950s and spoke French fluently). Andrzej Szarmach to Auxerre was the primary example. Back then Polish players were only allowed to travel abroads when they turned 28 yo.

 

Boniek to Juventus after 1982 WCup was the ultimate dispension alas he was the biggest star we had so he was given the "ultimate" permission from the top ranks.

Edited November 26, 2025 by Monzanator

[avlar 586]

46 minutes ago, Monzanator said:

Has to be 1974 since  played  and  in group stage (and  missed 1970 WCup) 

 

32 minutes ago, phelps said:

it's written in Spanish, but Italy only played Belgium in 1954

the number of teams is also strange, 12

the only thing that comes to my mind is Spain 1982, the draw for the second round (which was 4 groups of 3 teams and all those 4 teams were involved): 1-4=pot 1; 5-8= pot 2; 9-12= pot 3, 1 team from each pot in each group

 

12 minutes ago, LDOG said:

It's the draw for the group stage of 1982. They made a mistake with Belgium and had to move them to group 3 later.

Exactly! Spain 1982. The first group round draw.

FIFA did a huge mistake and did not see the problem until they placed Scotland to the group with Argentina.