Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival welcomes 260 guests representing 25 countries and 186 publishers
uae1 hour ago
The biggest sporting event in the world is only going to get bigger.
Yes, Fifa has made the global game even more popular with the announcement on Tuesday that the World Cup, its showpiece event, will have 48 teams from 2026 onwards.
It's obviously a massive boost for the countries that will now get a better chance to qualify for the World Cup for the first time.
Khaleej Times spoke to some UAE-based football fans whose respective national teams - India and Pakistan - have never played in a World Cup.
ICYMI: FIFA Council unanimously decides to expand the FIFA #WorldCup to a 48-team competition as of 2026. https://t.co/OXmqUi5Q7A pic.twitter.com/XUNbkaYWQNWe also spoke to a few Chinese fans who have seen massive investments from corporate houses in football in their country in recent times.
- FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) January 10, 2017
Biggest Sport in the world increases its teams for a World Cup .. #Football ... Cricket decreases its teams !!!!!! How can that be right ??Dishang Mehta (Indian): I think the young generation in India is quite interested in football. I see lot of kids play football in the place I come from in India. Now this decision will obviously give the kids massive encouragement. And don't forget India did qualify for the 1950 World Cup but they were not allowed to take part because they refused to wear boots! So we do have a football tradition in our country.
- Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) January 10, 2017
So it's about money. Who would have thought that FIFA would ever make cash the priority? https://t.co/KzeMgPRxPqMohammed Salah (Egyptian): We are the most successful country in African football. We have won the African Cup of Nations seven times. But we always had bad luck in the World Cup qualifiers. We have qualified only twice (1934 and 1990). Now Egypt will have a better chance to qualify as Africa will now have nine World Cup slots. Maybe the quality of football will suffer in the World Cup with so many teams, but as an Egyptian I am very happy.
- Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) January 9, 2017
Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival welcomes 260 guests representing 25 countries and 186 publishers
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