Siddhartha Talukdar

Yeah, I am aware of this. Host Nation generally gets top seed. But if the host is weak then the host's group winner gets it easy in the knockouts. Eg Uruguay in 2010, Netherlands in 2022

Why is no one talking about the draw for the inter-continental playoffs? IC-2 includes teams from South America, North America, and Asia, which means its winner will end up in a group alongside two European teams and an African team. The main issue is that the draw takes place before the playoffs, so we don’t know the identities of those teams—or which pots they actually deserve to be in. Another problem is the FIFA rankings themselves. Intra-continental comparisons are usually fine: Iran is clearly stronger than Qatar, Costa Rica is stronger than Haiti, Colombia is stronger than Bolivia, and so on. But globally the rankings don’t always reflect reality. Is Iran really the 20th-best team in the world when most of its players are in the domestic league, whose clubs rarely go past the quarter-finals of the AFC Champions League? Or look at Ivory Coast: ranked 42nd, yet they’re African champions with players across major European leagues. A third issue is that FIFA doesn’t do much to ensure a balanced knockout stage. In most sports, the top four seeds are placed so they can’t meet before the semifinals. FIFA’s system doesn’t guarantee that kind of structure.

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

Till 2014, draws used to be based on continental zones. Since 2018 pots are based on rankings so groups could be more balanced. But rankings can never be accurate unless nations from inter-continents play more competitive matches. Also, suddenly if a lower ranked team nation gets decent players like Norway or a higher ranked team have lesser quality players like Italy who are ranked 10th right now

Are we playing Cricket 10 times!!

FIH Hockey World Cup is simulation event but the tournament is generally held once in 4 years with the next scheduled in 2026 and the previous one was held in 2023. Otherwise there were no relavant tournaments in 2025 You can go with rankings as they are a decent indicator of top teams Rankings - link In Cricket, there are three main formats played internationally - Test, 50 over One-Day Internationals (ODI), Twenty 20 or T20. The Olympics shall be played in T20 format which also the most widespread, short and thrilling format. T20 World Cup is relevant simulation event which happens every 2 years. The previous one occurred in 2024 and the next one is in 2026. Again rankings are a decent indicator Rankings - men women

Yes, you do. is currently 81st in T20 rankings here: rankings Also finished last in Americas sub-regional qualifier for 2026 T20 World Cup - tournament

Detailed breakup Archery - 8: Men's + Women's team in recurve and 2 in mixed team compound Athletics - 25 ish: Average contingent size has been 25-30 in the past Badminton - 8: One quota each in all the five events. Second quota in MS and WS depends on which of the current juniors step up Boxing - 6: Average figure Cricket - 30: Both men's and women's team should qualify Equestrian - 1: Someone in dressage or eventing. Team also possible Field Hockey - 30: Both men's and women's team should qualify Golf - 4 Judo - 1 Rowing - 1 Sailing - 2 Shooting - 22: Very good depth in rifle and pistol. 2 quota in shotgun could happen too Squash - 2: One male and one female Swimming - 2 Table Tennis - 4: Not aware how many doubles can qualify from one NOC. Conservative figure of two singles players qualifying each per gender Tennis - 2: Men's Doubles possible Weightlifting - 1 Wrestling - 7: Even with federation issues we somehow qualify a decent number Total: 156 Optimistic qualifiers Fencing - 1: Bhavani Devi or Taniksha Khatri Equestrian - 3: Team qualification realistic Track Cycling - 1: Lets see how crop of Ronaldo and Beckham progress

Draw Simulation video of BWF World Championships

You can probably add 3x3 Basketball - https://fiba3x3.basketball/2025/worldcup Table Tennis - https://www.worldtabletennis.com/eventInfo?selectedTab=Overview&eventId=3108&innerselectedTab=Scheduled

Table Tennis in May, Judo in June, While Badminton in August; Wrestling, Archery, to take place in September

My two cents here. I feel ICC sees 2028 Olympics as a write off as there are too few teams and no stadiums to have a proper tournament. The only positive are Americans get exposure to a new sport and their team and perhaps more participation in the future, for IOC a lucrative broadcast deal especially catering to India market. I think the real decent tournament with 8-12 teams shall be in 2032 onwards with historic cricket venues in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide.

So Italy innings is over and they scored 134. So Netherlands have to win to qualify after Jersey's win earlier in the day Italy current NRR: 1.722 Jersey current NRR: 0.306 If Netherlands score 135 runs in 84 balls or 14 overs then Italy NRR shall be 0.296 and if Netherlands score in 85 balls or 14.1 overs so Italy NRR shall be 0.319. So restricting after 85 balls is the magical target for Italy

Italy virtually qualified unless they lose heavily against Netherlands. Will you be traveling to India if Italy qualifies

This tournament is a dress rehearsal of FIFA World Cup replacing the Confederations Cup. So it will be held a year prior to the World Cup and played in the host country. So 2029 Club World Cup shall be held in either Spain, Portugal or Morocco